Tokyo Intermezzo
by Genki Collective
Summary: When superstar pianist Yukari comes to town to play a concert with trumpet player Ia's orchestra, Ia - who's been a huge Yukari fan for years - is overjoyed at finally getting to meet her idol. But Ia never expected that their passing encounter would turn into so much more. Loosely based on the song "Moonflowers." Yuri; Yukari/Ia, Gumi/Lily. Rated M for language and sexual content.
1. Prelude

_**DISCLAIMER: **_I don't own any of the Vocaloid characters appearing in this story. They're the intellectual property of the various software companies. This story constitutes "fair use" of these characters as provided for under applicable U.S. and international copyright laws.

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_**NOTE ON FORMATTING:**_ Present-tense internal monologue, flashbacks, and written/electronic communications are _italicized_.

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This fanfic is loosely based on the song _Moonflowers_ (YouTube clip 4jGhqY6AKJk).

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_**TOKYO INTERMEZZO**_

**Chapter 1: Prelude**

To this day, whenever I hear a performance of Rachmaninoff's _Piano Concerto No. 3,_ I think of Yuzuki Yukari.

The way her facial expressions mirrored the shifting emotions of the music pouring from her piano. Her long, strong fingers now pounding, now caressing the keys during the concerto's extended solo passages. The sway of her twin violet ponytails as they mirrored the movement of her lean, delicately-curved body. And those eyes…violet oceans that bathed my soul in warmth in a way no one else's had done before, or have since. All these images, burned into my long-term memory, are as fresh today as the moment they were created, waiting only for the sound of the concerto's familiar themes to awaken them.

We were from two different worlds, Yuzuki Yukari and me. She was a marquee soloist, in Tokyo for four days to perform the Rachmaninoff concerto with the Nippon Symphony Orchestra. I, on the other hand, was an anonymous section player, little better than a footnote on the back of the concert program, somewhere in the fine print that lists the orchestra personnel: Akasaka Aria. At the time of the Yukari's performance, I had been playing trumpet for the NSO for all of two months.

Although I'd long numbered myself among Yukari's legion of admirers, I was convinced there was no way our private universes would intersect during her time with the NSO, even though we were going to be sharing the same stage. I figured that, like the rest of my colleagues, I'd get to shake her hand, hear more of those kind words she always seemed to have for anyone and everyone, and perhaps even have my picture taken with her. And that would be it. We'd play the concerts, after which she'd move on to the next engagement, and I'd join the long list of musicians who could say that they'd played on stage with classical music's most promising young pianist.

How beautifully and utterly wrong I was.

* * *

On the first Thursday in May, I arrived at Asahi Pavilion in Tokyo's Minato Ward at about 9:25 am, thirty five minutes before the NSO's scheduled rehearsal. For me, the early show was unusual. On a normal work day, I'd roll out of bed at about 6:30, go for a run, and then squeeze in a couple hours' practice before getting to the concert hall a little before ten. But I had plenty of incentive to alter my routine on that particular morning: Yukari was slated to make her first run-through of the Rachmaninoff with the orchestra.

Usually, the Pavilion's cavernous Main Hall would still be shrouded in tomb-like silence this far ahead of time, but management had told our concertmaster that Yukari was planning on arriving well before 10:00 am to visit with the orchestra members, so he'd sent out an email telling us to be in place by 9:30. By the time I showed up, the Hall was already bustling with musicians. Fragments of scales and musical passages from a variety of instruments, together with the sound of a dozen conversations, bounced off of the polished blond-wood flooring and ricocheted around the stage.

Normally, the early call would cause a lot of grumbling. Professional musicians are a jaded, temperamental lot, and can be quite grudging when it comes to showing consideration to even the most famous of visiting soloists. But Yukari was a notable exception. Even though she'd only been touring full time for about 15 months, word had already circulated throughout the international classical music community that – unlike so many star performers – she was friendly, humble, and openly appreciative of the contributions of the musicians she worked with. Orchestras tend to respond well to that sort of attitude, so as 9:30 approached, all 90-odd musicians needed to perform the Rachmaninoff concerto were in the house, and nobody was complaining.

There were certainly no objections from me. I'd been a die-hard Yuzuki Yukari fangirl since I was 13, when I came across an online clip of her winning her first international junior piano competition. Not only was she talented and oh-so-cute, but she looked like she was having the time of her life as she ripped through Robert Schumann's _Piano Concerto in A Minor_ like it was nothing. And at 14, she was barely a year older than me. I was smitten, and from that moment Yukari became my guilty little baby-dyke pleasure. I put her pictures on my bedroom wall, bookmarked every video clip, and downloaded every sound file. While my friends got damp panties from boy bands like Arashi, I fantasized about Yukari serving as my accompanist during my music conservatory auditions, and then making celebratory love to me all night after we found out I'd gotten in.

The celebrity crush had grown far less intense as I moved from adolescence to adulthood, but it never fully went away, which explained why I'd been looking forward to this day as if it was Christmas. Now that The Day had arrived, it took everything I had to stuff my excitement behind the veneer of dignity I was expected to maintain as a professional musician.

Yukari obviously hadn't arrived yet, so I headed for my usual spot at the stage-left side of the top riser. I barely had the chance to set my trumpet case on my chair before I caught the flash of blonde out of the corner of my eye, and heard my nickname echo across the stage. Just like that, all hope for a moment's peace before rehearsal evaporated.

"Yo, Ia! So, did you bring your autograph book?" Violist Masuda Lily was smiling a bit too smugly for my taste, but the glare I shot her had no effect. She just kept right on grinning as I took her by the arm and pulled her several steps away from the rest of the brass section.

"Not so loud. I don't need anyone else hearing you give me a hard time about this. Good morning yourself, by the way."

Lily and I had known each other for more than four years, since our first day of classes at Tokyo Music Conservatory. She was not only my closest friend, but the most open-minded and understanding straight person I knew. Even so, she wasn't above teasing me about anything and everything, especially my big gay crush on Yukari. It was how we rolled.

"Hey, maybe Yuzuki-san'll sign one of her publicity photos for you,' she said in a conspiratorial whisper. "I can see it now. 'To Iacchi – you're the wind beneath my wings.' Get it? Wind? It's a musician joke." She giggled in celebration of her own wit.

"Correction: it's a _crappy_ joke. Geez, I'm 22, Lily. You make it sound like I'm twelve." My words rang hollow, because we both knew I'd been so keyed up all week over the possibility of coming face to face with Yukari that I hadn't exactly been acting my age. "Besides, I already got her autograph once, and a picture, too."

Lily's eyebrows arched upward.

"Really? I know you went to see Yuzuki-san in concert once, but I don't remember you telling me that you actually met her."

"I _did_ tell you, but you have the memory of a fruit fly. Geez, Lily. It was about two years ago, remember? At the big piano competition in Nagoya, the year she won. She signed my program after her final concert."

"Hey, I can barely remember which guy in my contact list I dated last weekend," Lily said, pretending to look offended. "How do you expect me to remember stuff like this? But yeah, now that you mention it, she was the big topic of conversation among the piano majors at the conservatory back then. So you've met her? I take it she was nice, or you wouldn't be quite so enthusiastic."

"She was totally adorable. We talked about music school and what it's like to play professionally. She treated me like I was the most important person on earth. Trust me, Lily, when you meet her in person, you'll see what I mean."

I must have had a weird expression on my face when I said that, because Lily's smile widened perceptibly.

"God, you're such a fangirl. It's hilarious." She paused suddenly, looking at me intently and sniffing. "Hey, you smell really good this morning."

"What? Are you saying that I usually smell bad?"

"You know what I mean. And what's with that blouse? It's a lot tighter than you usually wear. You're practically bursting out of it."

"Stop staring at my…um, my you-know-whats. Creep. Anyway, I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about. These are my regular clothes. I didn't do anything special this morning."

I was lying, of course. My waist-length hair, which I normally just tossed into a ponytail so it stayed out of my face while playing, was hanging loose, and it had taken a half an hour's worth of hard work to get right. Furthermore, I'd purposely chosen a fitted blouse and tight slacks to emphasize my chest and rear end. I don't know what I was thinking – maybe it was a silly schoolgirl fantasy that if I was attractive enough, Yukari might take more than casual notice of me. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that I'd have to deal with Lily, whose grin was now well into Cheshire Cat territory.

"Like hell you didn't. Admit it – you got all fancied up because of her, and-…wow, Ia, are you…_blushing_? My God, you totally are!"

Judging from the burning sensation on my cheeks, she was right, unfortunately.

"Shut up. It's been such a long time…I mean, why would I go to all that trouble for someone who doesn't even remember me? Geez, would you just drop it already?"

Fortunately, Lily knew me well enough to sense when she'd pushed her teasing to the limit.

"Okay, sorry," she said, although she seemed unable to wipe that infuriating grin from her face. "The way you curl that lower lip when you're frustrated is just too cute. I'll be good, though."

"You'd better be."

"Don't worry. But…" All traces of amusement left Lily's expression, replaced by genuine concern. "…what's the deal here, Ia? This isn't like you. Usually, you're the level-headed, mature one in this friendship."

I didn't have an answer for her. The way I was behaving was, for lack of a better word, juvenile. I felt like a rock groupie. It was embarrassing, but I couldn't help myself.

"Never mind me," I said, not really wanting tell Lily what was going through my mind right then. "I'm just being stupid. It'll pass. Now will you leave me alone for a few minutes, please? I need to prep my horn for 10:00."

"Sure, but before I go, here's a bit of advice." That knowing smile of hers was back. "Unbutton one more button on that blouse. The extra cleavage might help Yuzuki-san remember you."

"Go!" Heads turned as I barked the command at her, but she simply winked at me, then casually sashayed off into the depths of the viola section. Relieved to be rid of her for the moment, I returned to my chair and pulled my trumpet out of its case. I'd barely gotten its valves oiled before a murmur swept through the assembled musicians.

A group of three people had walked through the stage doors and were heading for the podium. In the lead, easily recognizable by his tall, spare frame and salt-and-pepper hair, strode the NSO's music director. Behind the forty-something Russian were two Asian women. The first, who had shaggy, jaw-length green hair, and whose ample chest strained at the jacket of her tailored suit, was carrying what looked like a tablet computer. I'd never seen her before. To be honest, she barely registered in my mind, because my attention was on the second woman; the sight of her had unleashed what felt like a swarm of butterflies in the pit of my stomach.

Yukari was as beautiful as I remembered. Sure, I'd seen countless online photos of her since that night in Nagoya, but pixels are no substitute for reality. Her mid-thigh-length gray dress molded to her slim contours like a second skin, and matching gray knee-highs showed off her toned, impossibly long legs. She still wore her violet hair in the same distinctive style of her teen years: bobbed all around, except for the twin chest-length ponytails hanging from her temples. They looked as soft and silky as ever, and when she moved, they delicately caressed her exposed collarbone. I wanted to touch both the tails _and_ the collarbone so badly.

But it was Yukari's eyes that drew me like a tractor beam. Words couldn't do them justice. If I had to describe them, I'd say they were warm and sexy and innocent and mischievous all in one soul-twisting package. They were the kind of eyes that, with just a glance, reach inside a girl and grab her heart in a velvet-steel fist. At any rate, that's exactly what they did to me every time I saw them, and that morning was no different.

As Yukari strode across the stage, megawatt smile in full effect, my mouth went dry. For a wind player, that's not a good thing, but I was too busy concentrating on Yukari to worry about it. I looked on as she shook hands with the concertmaster, whom she seemed to know. Because of the Main Hall's live acoustics, their conversation was quite audible.

"Ah, yes, I played a concert in Munich last month. Herr Osterhagen sends his regards. He says he's looking forward to working with you at the Zurich Festival this summer." Sophisticated words, but they were delivered in the bubbly mezzo-soprano of a typical 23-year-old Japanese woman. At the sound of her voice, those butterflies began to swirl around even faster.

She paid her respects to each of the section principals, who had congregated near the podium, and then began working her way through the maze of chairs and music stands, pausing long enough to greet each person with a bow and a few cheerful words. The closer she came, the worse my jitters got.

Finally, Yukari stood before me, and as I rose from my chair, clenching my hands into fists to keep them from trembling, her gorgeous eyes locked directly onto mine. I could hear my pulse rushing in my ears.

"This is Akasaka Aria-san, our assistant principal trumpet player," the music director said with a tight smile in my direction. "She just recently joined us from the conservatory here in Tokyo."

Yukari's brow furrowed.

"Have we met? Yes, I'm sure we've met at some point. Please…Akasaka-san, was it? Where do I know you from?"

_My God, does she really remember me?_ I thought. _No way!_

"At the Nagoya competition, after you won the gold medal," I said aloud, hoping my voice didn't sound too shaky. "You signed my program."

To my complete surprise, a light dawned somewhere in her memory. The resulting smile was so brilliant that I felt as though I was in the presence of a deity whose glory threatened to consume me.

"Oh, sure! How could I forget such pretty blue eyes? And these…" To my shock, she reached out to gently stroke one of the twin half-braids I'd plaited into the long, gray tresses hanging from my temples. The touch of those elegant fingers turned my knees to rubber, and for a fleeting moment, I thought I might faint. "I see you're still wearing your hair like that. I guess we sort of match, don't we?" She fingered one of her own side-tails for a moment.

"You're being much too forward." The woman in the suit barely spoke above a mutter. "Public image, Yukarin, public image."

"It's fine." Yukari waved a dismissive hand at her, then turned back to me. "You must be a heck of a player to get hired as an assistant principal straight out of music school, and by a first-rate orchestra like this one. I can't wait to hear you play."

"Back then…you inspired me to work harder…thank you…" My voice must have sounded like a croaking frog's, and I was certain that the blush I'd shown Lily earlier had returned with a vengeance.

"We need to keep moving, Yukarin." The green-haired woman, who was likely Yukari's personal assistant, tapped impatiently at the screen of her tablet. With a sigh, the pianist nodded her agreement, although she looked reluctant.

"You're right. I'm spending too much time gabbing, as usual." Yukari's eyes found mine again; they were so soft and warm that I thought I might melt. "I'm glad we crossed paths again, Akasaka-san. It's always nice to see a familiar face."

She smiled at me once more, thanked me in advance for my hard work, and moved on to the next person. I stood as still as if I'd turned to stone, able only to gaze after her as the butterflies in my stomach coalesced into one seething, fluttering mass.

I didn't know what to make of the fact that, out of all the many hundreds of people she'd met since our last encounter, the memory of a five-minute conversation with an ordinary fan like me had stuck with Yukari for so long. And yet she not only remembered me, but appeared to be genuinely glad to see me. It seemed too good to be true, but I wasn't about to complain.

Now that the shining moment had passed, I reminded myself that I had a job to do, and that I couldn't afford to allow Yukari's presence to distract me from it. _Just keep your nose buried in your music stand, and you'll be fine,_ I told myself.

But then it hit me: in the Rach Three, the second trumpet part consists of no more than two dozen notes over the first two movements. In other words, I'd be playing for all of about 30 seconds out of the first half hour of a 45-minute concerto. There wasn't nearly enough to keep my mind occupied.

The sound of Yukari's laughter floated across the stage like the sound of a silver wind chime on a summer breeze. _Oh, God, I want her so badly, but it's not going to happen,_ I thought, wishing that those damned butterflies would fly away once and for all.

I wondered how I was going to make it through the next two hours without falling to pieces.

* * *

Rehearsal turned out to be a much different experience than I'd expected. To my disappointment, I didn't have a clear view of Yukari's face from my vantage point on the rear riser; the podium and the propped-open piano lid combined to block her from my view. With no other alternative, I spent most of my considerable down time listening to her play.

Needless to say, Yukari was as brilliant as ever.

Rachmaninoff's _Concerto No. 3_ has passages that, in the hands of a truly inspired pianist, evoke a kaleidoscope of images. A raging flood, a lover's caress, the capering of a childhood playmate – Yukari wove them all into a seamless tale that pulled me in so completely that I very nearly missed my first entrance. Fortunately, my boss, the principal trumpet player, saved me with a well-placed elbow.

When rehearsal finally ended, I remained in my chair as the colleagues around me packed up and left, trying to process the previous two and a half hours. As I sat staring into space, my hands on autopilot as they wiped down my trumpet, I gradually sensed something that sounded like a female voice murmuring in my right ear. I was too lost in my thoughts to pay any real attention to it until a hand yanked at my sleeve.

"Hey, you! Quit ignoring me!"

With a start, I looked over my shoulder to find Lily scowling at me.

"I thought I heard a faint buzzing," I deadpanned. "Were you saying something important? Probably not, or I would have noticed."

"Idiot. My stomach's growling. Keep me waiting any longer and I'll stick you with the lunch check."

"Okay, okay. Geez. Give me a second." I reassembled my trumpet's valves and tucked it back into its case. Moments later, Lily and I were walking through the stage door and into the winding hallway that led to the Pavilion's rear exit, instrument cases slung over our shoulders.

"Took you long enough," Lily grumbled.

"Sorry about that. I guess I was spacing out." I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "And sorry for not hanging out during break, too. I was a bit busy with all these people asking me questions. 'How long have you known Yuzuki-san?' 'How did you two meet?' 'Are you guys really that close?' 'Are the two of going to hang out later? If so, can we come?' What a pain in the neck. No one believes I'm not bosom buddies with her. Thanks for tossing me that water bottle, by the way. I was ready to shrivel up."

"You're welcome," Lily said. "But why're you surprised at the buzz after what happened on stage before rehearsal? Right in front of everyone, too. I guess Yuzuki-san remembered you after all, huh?" She raised a suggestive eyebrow.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

Lily either didn't hear my remark, or chose to ignore it.

"What was up with her and your hair, anyway? You and I are close, and I would never do something like that. Well, not in front of an audience. And not unless I was really drunk. And I wouldn't touch your half-braids. I'd go for your boo-…"

I knew all too well where this was going – downhill fast, as usual for Lily – so I cut her off.

"Shut up, pervert. Anyway, she was just being friendly. That's the way she is."

Lily nodded, although she seemed less than convinced.

"The last time someone acted _that_ friendly with me in public, he and I were fucking like rabbits in a love hotel inside of 30 minutes."

That did it. I came to a dead stop in the middle of the deserted corridor and whirled to face Lily, gritting my teeth in frustration and fighting the urge to beat her over the head with my trumpet case.

"Would you please knock off the sleazy comments?"

Lily's shoulders shook with barely-suppressed laughter.

"I'll try, but I'm not sure it's possible," she said. "Anyway, back to what I was saying. It was really weird how she was so much friendlier with you than with anyone else. I mean, she was friendly with everyone, but she really turned on the charm with you. I can't believe you weren't embarrassed by that. Usually, you wilt at the slightest provocation."

My annoyance evaporated as the mental image of Yukari's fingers gently stroking my half-braid flitted across my memory.

"Maybe, but for once in my life, I didn't mind at all."

"It sure didn't look like you minded," Lily snorted. "In fact, when she touched you, I thought you were going to co-…"

"Don't say it! Geez, do you ever think about anything but sex?"

"I do think about other things sometimes," Lily insisted. "Take music, for example. Were you aware that Ravel's _Bolero_ is the perfect background track for long, steady intercourse?"

"I hate you."

"Yes. Yes, you do. But you love me so much more."

"Shut up and walk," I said, cursing her inwardly for being right. With an exasperated shake of my head, I turned and stalked down the corridor. Lily walked beside me in silence, clearly aware that she was dancing on my last nerve. As if extending an olive branch, she turned the conversation in a more serious direction.

"I have to admit that when it comes to Yuzuki-san, you were absolutely right."

"How so?"

"She seems so…'genuine' is the word I'm looking for. Very warm and sincere. I don't think a soloist has ever thanked me for my contribution to their performance. I mean, who cares about the ass end of the viola section? But Yuzuki-san made me feel as important as anyone else before we'd even played a note together. How chill is that? I guess I can see why you're so into her." She hesitated for a moment, then suddenly chuckled. "True confession? I know I've been jerking your chain over all of this, but if the orchestra brought in some young stud of a violinist, like that German guy who models on the side, I'd probably act the same way as you."

"No, you wouldn't," I countered. "You'd be much ruder."

"True. Hot guys do strange things to my inhibitions." She let out a long sigh. "There's a huge gap between people like Yuzuki-san and the rest of us, isn't there? Compared to them, we're nobodies. I guess that's why fans have to content themselves with their dreams, right?"

She had a valid point. Regardless of what had happened between Yukari and me before rehearsal, I was under no illusions. She was untouchable, the stuff of fantasy. I'd had my fangirl moment, and as satisfying as it was, I had no right to expect anything more.

* * *

As we approached the Pavilion's service entrance, I was about to ask Lily if there was anywhere in particular she wanted to eat lunch, when she hit me with a question that I didn't expect.

"Hey Ia, do you remember that girl with Yuzuki-san…the one with the green hair?"

"Yeah. What about her?"

Lily paused in front of the doorway.

"She's really good-looking, don't you think? Built like one of those Western swimsuit models. Very easy on the eyes. I wish I had a body like hers."

It seemed a bit odd that Lily would comment on another woman's appearance. Usually, she went on and on about this or that cute guy she'd seen.

"I wasn't really paying attention to her, so I wouldn't know," I said. "Why the sudden interest?"

Lily shrugged.

"Couldn't tell you. It was just that she seemed…different, somehow. I was wondering if it was just me. Maybe it was. I have to say, though…I wouldn't at all mind chatting with her over milk tea."

"If that's an invitation, then I accept," said a voice.

Neither Lily nor I had noticed the speaker as she walked up to us during our conversation: the very woman Lily was talking about. Without Yukari to divert my attention, I got a good look at her for the first time. Even though she wasn't my type, I could definitely see why Lily would consider the woman attractive. She had similar attributes to those Lily preferred in the men she dated: an outgoing, cheerful aura, and a body straight out of an anime.

"Sorry to intrude," she said, bowing politely to Lily and me. Her businesslike expression of earlier had given way to a relaxed, confident smile. "Masami Gumi, Yuzuki-san's personal assistant. Akasaka-san and Masuda-san, right?" I nodded, but Gumi barely noticed. Her attention was firmly fixed on Lily, who stared back at her with much more than casual interest.

"I'm flattered by the compliment, Masuda-san," Gumi continued, "and I really enjoy milk tea, especially when the company's good."

"I'm sorry, you'll have to repeat all that," Lily replied, entering full-on flirt mode. "I was too busy noticing what a beautiful shade of emerald your eyes are."

Gumi didn't miss a beat.

"Yours are the most intriguing shade of azure." Her smile was both speculative and a bit mischievous. "You talk as smoothly as you play your viola. I like that."

"And _I_ like that you were paying such close attention to my playing," was Lily's immediate rejoinder. "What kind of performer would I be if I didn't? Especially when my audience is so…" She paused, flipping her waist-length blonde hair for effect. "…appreciative."

Their exchange took me by completely by surprise. The issue wasn't that Lily was flirting with Gumi, a total stranger. Lily would play the coquette with just about anyone, male or female, young or old, but most of the time it was all in light-hearted fun. She normally reserved her serious efforts for the large supporting cast of men who always seemed to surround her. I'd never seen her hit on another woman so openly, especially one who returned the favor with such enthusiasm. If I'd encountered a similar scenario in a yuri manga or light novel, or seen two girls do their mating dance in a lesbian club, it wouldn't have been a big deal. Given the very public setting, however, it felt weird, and more than a little creepy.

After making a show of clearing my throat, I asked, "Um, Masami-san, is there something we can help you with?"

Gumi looked at me blankly for the briefest of moments. Then, as quickly as it had lifted, her mask of professionalism snapped back into place.

"Sorry for being inconsiderate, Akasaka-san. I was looking for you, actually, so I'm glad I caught you before you left. Yuzuki-san would like to invite you to visit her in her dressing room to continue your conversation of earlier this morning. Provided you're not busy, of course."

I was so shocked that I couldn't even nod my agreement, let alone answer her. The most I could do was stand there gaping at Gumi like a fool.

"Of course she would." Lily, who must have seen that I wasn't capable of speaking for myself, answered for me. "She'd rather die than miss this chance. Isn't that right?" With a wink, Lily nudged me with her elbow. "Run along with the pretty lady, Ia. Don't worry about me."

Gumi smiled knowingly.

"'Pretty lady', huh? I like the way you think, Masuda-san. This conversation is _not_ over."

"I certainly hope not," Lily said. "Um, I'll wait in the musicians' break room, Ia. Have fun." She may have been talking to me, but her goofy grin was directed at Gumi.

I barely noticed, because I was still trying to get my mind wrapped around the fact that I was going to get to have a private conversation with Yukari, something I thought wasn't ever going to happen. My voice was little more than a squeak as I replied, "Um, sure. I shouldn't be long."

* * *

As I walked with Gumi through Asahi Pavilion's maze of backstage corridors, it's impossible to say what I was feeling more intensely: nervousness or anticipation. For Gumi's part, she didn't have a lot to say at first, which was fine by me, because I was too preoccupied with my thoughts to engage in any meaningful conversation. After we turned the second corner and headed up the stairs, however, she finally broke the silence.

"Big fan of Yuzuki-san's, are you?"

I glanced at her briefly, trying to decide if she was borrowing a page from Lily's teasing playbook. She didn't seem to be, though; more likely, she'd seen reactions like mine many times before, and was simply trying to put me at ease. I decided to be honest.

"For years."

"Relax. She won't bite you. This was her idea, after all."

"Sorry about this. I feel so childish."

"Don't be sorry. Yuzuki-san's every bit as sweet as she appears to be. At least she is to everyone but me." Gumi chuckled quietly for a moment, as if it was some sort of private joke. "For what it's worth, she never does this."

"Never does what?"

"Brings people to her dressing room. I've been her P.A. since she started touring full time, and I've never seen her do it. Of course, she hasn't ever mentioned you before today, but it looked to me like you two have a past, so I guess it makes sense. I wouldn't dream of prying, though."

_Not much, you wouldn't, _I thought, but decided there was no harm in explaining this so-called "past." There was nothing to it, after all.

When I finished, Gumi said, "You must have made quite an impression on her. No offense, but it seems a little strange. Oh, well, who knows what she's thinking? She isn't exactly predictable. Obviously, you know from experience how artists can be."

Reassured by Gumi's easy manner, I began to relax.

"I hang around with Masuda-san," I said "Trust me, I live with the temperamental musician stereotype every day."

This time, Gumi's laugh was a bit louder.

"Funny you should mention Masuda-san. I meet a lot of people in this job, but I don't recall ever meeting someone so…interesting. Was she on the level with that milk tea comment? Hope so. I'd even pay for the tea myself. That is, if she's serious."

Obviously, Gumi was fishing for information, but she wasn't going to get any from me. For all her teasing, Lily had always respected my privacy, and I wasn't about to violate hers. Still, I thought it would be rude to ignore Gumi's question completely.

"One way to find out would be to ask her. Masuda-san says what she thinks, and she respects that quality in others."

Gumi nodded, and fell silent; I could sense that she was mulling over my words. Neither of us said anything further until we got to Yukari's dressing room.

* * *

When we finally arrived at the Main Hall's backstage complex, Gumi walked up to one of the long line of nondescript, unmarked doorways and knocked twice. Without waiting for an answer, she opened the door and went inside, motioning for me to follow her.

Despite the number of people shoehorned into it, the cramped room didn't show any sign of being occupied. Other than a scarlet-and-black hoodie draped over one of the chairs, and Gumi's tablet, which was lying on the make-up table, there were no personal items visible. Even so, the place didn't seem at all sterile to me, given who was standing in front of the mirror that hung on the far wall.

Yukari was facing away from me, cell phone pressed to her ear. The conversation sounded contentious, but I was too busy gawking at her to pay much attention to what she was saying.

I've never been much for buxom women. My most recent girlfriend, a butchy redhead with scarlet eyes, could easily pass for a teenage boy when she had her hair tucked into a hat. That girl had just enough curves to be dangerous, and for whatever reason, that really flips my switch. So it was no surprise that I couldn't keep my eyes off of the lean contours of Yukari's shoulders and back, and her slim, boyish hips.

_Don't stare at her ass, don't stare at her ass, don't stare at her ass,_ I chanted in my mind. _Oh, God, too late!_

Whether it was from joy or frustration, I wasn't sure, but suddenly I wanted to cry. The butterflies I'd felt in the morning didn't return – thankfully – but in their place I could feel that heavy tension building in my belly, the kind a girl gets when she's close enough to touch someone she's strongly attracted to.

Gumi tapped Yukari on the shoulder, and then jerked a thumb in my direction. Immediately, the pianist spun around to face me.

"Hang on," she barked into the phone, then clamped a palm over it. When our eyes met, I was treated to a smile as brilliant as the one she'd flashed at me onstage before rehearsal. "You're here! I'm so glad!"

_As if I could have refused you_. Unfortunately, I couldn't manage to transform that thought into actual words, so I simply bowed in greeting and smiled awkwardly back at her.

"Give me a second to finish this," Yukari said, pointing apologetically to her phone. When I nodded, she turned away and resumed her conversation. As for me, I went right back to staring at her, wondering how it would feel to mold my body against her back while she talked.

"Hey, it's me again…Look, you need to tell St. Louis to stick to the original agreement, which was Prokofiev Two. I'm not switching to the Brahms One on such short notice. There's not enough prep time…No means no. If they insist on this change, they can find themselves another soloist…I don't care if their guest conductor's having a hissy fit. I didn't like the guy when I worked with him in Prague, and I'm not in any mood to take any more of his bullying…Look, I'm about to go into a super-important meeting, okay? I'll have Masami-san call the American office directly, sometime tomorrow…Fine…Okay, later."

With a growl of frustration, Yukari mashed a finger into her smartphone screen.

"You're going to have to straighten this out for me, Gumi-chan. My English isn't good enough to argue with these people. Some agents they are – they do whatever they want. Remind me never to book with the St. Louis Philharmonic again after this, okay?"

"Tell me the details later," her assistant said. "It's time for your 'super-important meeting', remember?"

"Ooh, you're right!" Yukari's head snapped upward, eyes glowing with delight. "Akasaka-san, hello again!"

"Yuzuki-san…it's an honor…" I sounded wheezy, like I was hyperventilating. Which I very nearly was.

"I was afraid you wouldn't come to see me, but you did anyway. Somebody…" Yukari glanced at Gumi – a little guiltily, I thought, "…gave me a hard time about being too familiar in public with someone I hardly know. After she did, I got to thinking that you might have been really offended, and I didn't want that at all. So now that you're here, I can apologize properly. I'm really sorry for embarrassing you!"

She bowed deeply and held it.

"Th-there's, um, no n-need," I stammered. "Please d-don't do this." She didn't move. "Yuzuki-san, please. You didn't embarrass me before. _This_ is embarrassing me."

When Yukari stood upright again, she looked relieved.

"I'm so glad you're not angry with me. About what I did earlier…it's just that…uh, after Nagoya, I never quite forgot you, and…after all this time, there you were. Um, I was so happy to see a face I recognized that I just sort of…reacted." To my complete shock, she blushed, then dropped her head into her hands. "My God, I'm thinking out loud again. I sound like a total stalker. Guh! Sorry!"

Clearly, the memory of our encounter in Nagoya meant much more to Yukari than I'd ever expected. I had to fight to keep from pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

"Behold the power of the Red String of Fate," Gumi intoned, as if she was doing a voiceover for a shoujo anime. Yukari scowled at her, but there was no real venom in the action. If anything, she looked more cute than fierce, at least to me.

"Stop talking like an old woman, Gumi-chan. Don't you have personal-assistant-type things to do? Go on, take a spin around the Pavilion and give Akasaka-san and me some privacy."

"Fine," Gumi said with a shrug and an indulgent smile, almost like she was humoring a little sister. Ignoring her boss' display of petulance, she retrieved her tablet, and began to tick items off what appeared to be Yukari's "to-do" list. "Don't forget – dinner with the NSO Board of Directors is at 17:00, so you need to be back at the hotel by 16:00. I'll pick up your dress for tonight from the dry cleaners and have it waiting. Also, you need to return your cousin Mayu-san's phone call, preferably before dinner. You can't keep putting her off – you know how, um, insistent she gets."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Yukari rolled her eyes. "Anything else, Slavedriver-san?"

"Nope, that's pretty much it. Oh, and I made the reservations at the restaurant like you asked. If you and Akasaka-san don't get going, you'll be late."

'_Reservations at the restaurant'…'you and __Akasaka__-san'…a meal? With Yukari? These girls are messing with me, I just know it._

"Akasaka-san, um…I'm sorry for springing it on you like this." Yukari wrung her hands anxiously. "I mean, if you don't have more pressing matters to attend to, uh…would you allow me to treat you to lunch?"

This was no joke.

"Oh, no, I couldn't impose on you like that," I said aloud, more for the sake of propriety than anything else. Inside, however, I was screaming _yes_ at the top of my lungs.

"But I insist," Yukari countered. "Consider it the other half of my apology."

"Then thanks for your kindness. But, uh, my friend is outside waiting for me. I need to tell her what's up."

"I'll take care of that for you, Akasaka-san," Gumi said, her eyes gleaming at my mention of Lily. "Masuda-san and I need to finish our conversation, after all. Call me if you need me, Yukarin."

With a wave, Gumi was gone. And then the reality of the situation hit me. I was alone. With Yukari. In her dressing room.

My mind began to race. Unfortunately, all the images dancing through it involved Yukari doing things to me that polite people normally only discussed behind closed doors, if then. My rational side knew that there wasn't a chance in hell of anything actually happening between us, and that Yukari was just being her usual friendly self, but that thought didn't exactly help cool down my overheated imagination.

"What's this about a conversation?"

The sound of Yukari's voice brought me back to down to earth, and I turned to find her looking at me curiously. Her exact words didn't immediately register, because I was transfixed by the sight of those violet eyes. If I'd fallen into them and drowned right then, I would have considered it a noble death. But the moment didn't last, because Yukari wouldn't let her question go unanswered.

"Earth to Akasaka-san. What conversation?"

I told her about how Gumi and Lily had hit it off, omitting the details of their flirting. It didn't seem wise to tell Yukari that the same personal assistant who had lectured her about social boundaries had turned right around and hit on one of the orchestra members less than three hours later.

"Masuda-san? The blonde violist, huh?" Yukari grinned almost wickedly. "Heh. Different city, same old Gumi-chan."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing. It's not important."

For some reason, she seemed pleased with herself, but I wasn't going to push things by asking her to explain her cryptic comment. Besides, I really didn't care what was going on between Lily and Gumi, if anything. I had something much more important on my mind: my soon-to-be lunch, one on one, with Yukari.

Before it fully sank in that another of my fangirl dreams was about to come true, Yukari went one better by winding her arm around mine, as if we were old, close friends. For the second time that day, my legs felt like noodles.

"Let's go," she said, grabbing her hoodie with her free hand and pulling me toward the dressing room door. "We don't want to lose our reservation." She paused to giggle, a sound so beautiful that my heart nearly burst. "It's been so long since I had lunch with a friend. I'm so excited! I promise you, Akasaka-san, we're going to have an awesome time!"

Rather than answer, I simply nodded, and allowed Yukari to lead me. The warmth of her body against my arm was not only doing wonderful things to my insides, it had my mind on lockdown. I could only process one single word, the one Yukari had used on me moments before, with devastating effect.

_Friend._

* * *

**A/N:**

− I'd like to express my gratitude to my beta-reading team, Musican74 and Gray Voice, for suffering through the long and convoluted writing process. Because of their unwavering encouragement, this story actually made it to publication and didn't wind up in the bit bucket. Many humble thanks to you both!

− In this fic, Lily's surname came from her voice provider, while Gumi's and IA's came from their illustrators. Also, I spell IA "Ia" for the sake of readability, and I use that as a nickname for the full first name "Aria."

− I drew significant inspiration for Yukari's style of playing from a 2001 performance of Rachmaninoff's _Piano Concerto No. 3_ – YouTube clip 9AmxZnlRa6Q – that won pianist Olga Kern a share of first prize in that year's prestigious Van Cliburn competition. Even if you're not into classical music, cue it up at 39:30 and watch the cute blonde Russian bring it home to the big finish. Now imagine it's Yukari. You'll get it.

− My mental image of 14-year-old Yukari playing Robert Schumann's _Piano Concerto in A Minor_ came from a 2012 performance of that work by child prodigy Emily Bear (YouTube clip YLPWFrErfWE).

− In this story, the names of places (Asahi Pavilion), organizations (Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Music Conservatory, St. Louis Philharmonic), and events (the Nagoya Piano Competition, the Zurich Festival) are fictitious, but are based on real-world entities or composites thereof.

− I don't own the cover art. All rights to that belong to the artist, Minatsuki (pastelcanvas [d0t] weebly [d0t] c0m).

* * *

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	2. Antiphon

_**DISCLAIMER: **_I don't own any of the Vocaloid characters appearing in this story. They're the intellectual property of the various software companies. This story constitutes "fair use" of these characters as provided for under applicable U.S. and international copyright laws.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Antiphon**

The restaurant where Yukari took me turned out to be Arai, a trendy bistro located on the ground floor of the nearby Imperial Minato Hotel. It wasn't the type of place I frequented – generally, I preferred take-out noodles to obscenely-priced tuna sashimi – but since Yukari had insisted on treating me, I wasn't about to question her choice.

"Gumi-chan and I are staying upstairs," she explained as we walked through the hotel's spacious lobby toward the bistro's interior entrance. "We wanted to check this place out last night, but they were closed by the time we got here. The travel sites say their seafood's supposed to be awesome."

With its polished oak paneling and gleaming brass fixtures, Arai exuded the sort of understated elegance expected of a fine dining establishment. The headwaiter led us through the main seating area to a table in a quiet, dimly-lit corner; situated between two greenery-filled planters, it seemed the perfect place for a private conversation.

After taking our drink orders and describing the daily special – spicy grilled eel with shiitake mushrooms – he left us to study the menu. Well, one of us, anyway. Yukari's eyes had lit up when he mentioned eel.

"I like the sound of that daily special," she said. "It's tough to find decent unagi outside Japan. Even in northern Europe, it's not the same somehow. How about you? Anything look interesting?"

I stared vacantly at the list of entrées, unable to come to a decision even with help from the heavenly smells wafting from the kitchen. My mind was still stuck on the improbable fact that this beautiful and desirable woman – _the_ Yuzuki Yukari – was sitting right across from me, so close that I could reach out and touch her if I only had the nerve, and smiling a smile that was slowly destroying me from the inside out.

_This is too dangerous,_ I thought. _I need to get a grip before I start acting like Lily. Heh. That'd probably get us both arrested. But, God, I can barely look at her without wanting to…_

"Um, Akasaka-san…is everything okay?"

With a jolt, I realized I'd drifted off into my thoughts. From the other side of the table, Yukari was staring at me with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

"It's…it's fine." When I shook my head for emphasis, she seemed to relax.

"Oh, good. I was worried I'd done something weird, because you seemed really…uh, anxious all of a sudden. You shouldn't be, okay? Let's just be two normal girls spending time together over lunch."

"I get spacey sometimes," I said. "Don't mind it."

"Okay, then," she said, still looking doubtful. "Hey, I'm sorry if I'm coming on a little strong. It's been a while since I asked someone out to lunch like this – since college, at least – so I'm a bit out of practice."

I found that hard to believe.

"Really? But you're so…" _…gorgeous and sexy and fun to be around,_ I wanted to say, but I didn't dare. "…um, you seem like the type to have friends in every city."

"Me? Hardly." Yukari's tone took on a hint of bitterness. "Gumi-chan's the one with a bazillion names on her contact list. Compared to her, I'm a shut-in. When I'm on the road, I'm either practicing, or hiding in my hotel room, or suffering through yet another god-awful symphony fundraiser where I'm the only one in the room under 40. Not much of a social life, is it?"

"I've heard stories about how tough touring is," I admitted. "We orchestra types have it pretty easy by comparison. Still, I can't believe you don't have friends to hang out with back home in…where _is_ home nowadays, anyway? Your web site doesn't say."

"Los Angeles. Actually, I don't live in the city itself, but in Gardena, which is right to the south. I felt I pretty much had to leave Kyoto when I started touring full time, because it was a pain having to travel so far to get to gigs. Besides, both my record label and my agent's American office are in L.A., and Gumi's fluent in English, so it's easier to do business in the States. The move made sense from a career standpoint."

"Southern California sounds glamorous," I said with a touch of envy. "I'll bet you fit right in."

Her eyes twinkled with amusement.

"You'd think that life there would be one big party, but it's not. Gardena's got a big Japanese community, but I still feel like a fish out of water. I've met a few people through Gumi, but it's hard to make friends and keep them when you spend nine months a year traveling. It doesn't help that my English is so horrible that I can barely get anyone to understand me without Gumi's help. Even in Gardena, hardly any of the younger Japanese-Americans actually speak Japanese. That doesn't leave me with a lot of people to talk to, so I pretty much keep to myself most of the time. The few real friends I have are from when I was in college, but of course I never see them anymore. That's why what you and I are doing right now is so…nice."

She let out a wistful sigh, and for the briefest of moments I caught a glimpse of what I suspected was the real Yukari. Underneath it all, this charismatic artist who always seemed to be the center of attention was in reality a very lonely woman.

_No wonder she was so eager to take me to lunch, _I thought. _It shouldn't be this way. Someone this friendly and kind shouldn't have to be so…alone. I wonder… when she's been on tour for six months or so, what does she do in the middle of the night when she just wants someone to hold her? Her hotel room must seem like a really cold and lonely place when that happens…_

Yukari's sudden giggle brought me back to the present.

"You know what I just realized?" A mischievous smirk crept across her face. "This is the closest thing I've had to a date in a year and a half."

"A d-d-date?" The notion that Yukari would view our lunch in those terms had my brain dangerously close to short-circuiting.

"Ugh, I said something strange again, didn't I?" Yukari seemed embarrassed all of a sudden; it was clear that she'd misinterpreted my reaction. "Sorry about that. I worry about my social skills sometimes, especially when I'm talking to a really hot girl-…oops." With a look of sudden horror, she clapped a hand over her mouth, as if she'd just revealed a dark secret by accident. There was a long, awkward silence as I stared dumbly at her, trying to process what she'd said.

_Yukari thinks I'm "hot." What did she mean? Does she like me like "that?"_

It didn't seem possible, but I couldn't argue with the evidence. Her actions to that point – touching my hair, commenting on my eyes, linking arms with plenty of body contact, inviting me to lunch on the flimsiest of pretexts, and so on – certainly suggested that she might be attracted to me on some level. Unfortunately, there was really no way to know for sure without coming out and asking her, and I wasn't about to do that. In my wildest fantasies, Yukari had been quite direct about her attempts to seduce me, but reality was another matter altogether. For all I knew, she was straight as a meter stick, and was simply admiring another woman she found attractive.

_I need to watch my step here. Can't take anything for granted._

Meanwhile, Yukari's sunny, self-assured aura of moments earlier had disappeared, and she now appeared to be as flustered as I was.

"Oh, geez, I didn't…Akasaka-san, I…I'm so sorry! I'd didn't mean to say you're hot. Um, well, I _did_, but…no, I didn't, not out loud. But God, you _are_ hot, totally, and…no wait, that's not what it sounds like. I mean…dammit, I don't know _what_ I mean anymore." Her shoulders slumped. "You probably think I'm the weirdest person ever. Ugh. Shutting up now."

She looked so mortified that I was afraid she might bolt the restaurant altogether.

"Hey, it's okay. What you said isn't weird. Not at all." I swallowed hard, and decided to take the chance that what she'd said was more than just a simple compliment. "In fact, I'm really happy that you think of me that way."

Our eyes met and locked, and in an instant, the atmosphere between us changed completely. Yukari's cheerful, friendly veil evaporated, allowing me a full view of what lay underneath. In that moment, I realized she was with me not because she wanted to repay an obligation, or to ease her loneliness with a bit of companionship, but because of some deeper, unspoken need that could never be fully met by simple friendship.

Ever so softly, my gaydar began to ping.

"So you really think I'm pretty, then?" I looked away, nibbling on my lower lip while waiting for her answer. My heart began to pound so hard that the beats were almost audible. Finally, I heard a sharp intake of breath from across the table.

"Akasaka-san, you're the most…"

To my utter dismay, the waiter materialized out of nowhere with our drinks just as Yukari began to speak. Just like that, the moment vanished, smothered under a heavy mantle of awkwardness, leaving us both to pretend, at least for the waiter's sake, that things weren't any different from before, even though we both knew otherwise.

Yukari ordered the special without hesitation. I did the same, not because I had a particular taste for eel, but because I'd been so wrapped up in what was going on between Yukari and me that I never bothered to choose something from the menu.

"Compared to what I usually eat on tour, this is pretty fancy stuff," Yukari said after the waiter had retreated. From her suddenly upbeat attitude, I could tell she was trying to push aside our mutual embarrassment and jump-start the conversation. "Most of the time, Gumi-chan gets take-out for me. After what she calls the Pizza Incident, she won't let me order out for myself until I take another round of English lessons."

I thought that sounded like an interesting story, and told her so.

"It happened a couple months after I moved to the States." She grinned sheepishly at the memory. "Gumi-chan wasn't around, and I'd been practicing a brutal piece for about four hours or so and was really hungry. I was too tired to cook, so I decided to order a pizza. I figured, you know, no big deal to do that over the phone. I'd watched Gumi-chan do it a bunch of times. All I had to do was say 'medium pizza with mushrooms and green peppers' and give them my address. Simple, right?" She paused to roll her eyes. "Wrong."

"Oh, God, don't tell me…" I pressed my hand to my mouth to stifle a giggle.

"Yep, you guessed it. Turns out that particular pizza place is run by a bunch of Koreans, and they all must have been fresh off the plane like I was, because their English sucked just as bad as mine. The guy started asking me questions, and it was all downhill from there."

She went on to reenact the phone conversation, complete with an imitation of the increasingly impatient shop attendant that was so hilarious that I had to bite down on a knuckle to keep from bursting into laughter.

"So this cute little Korean girl rings my doorbell, and hands me a personal-size pizza with extra jalapeno peppers and no tomato sauce. Oh, and I wound up with four two-liter bottles of diet cola, too. Heaven knows how _that_ happened. Anyway, it was a fiasco. I just paid her and sent her on her way. God, you should have heard Gumi-chan laugh at me when she found out about it. I just wish she'd told me I could have ordered online _before_ I went and made myself look stupid."

Telling that story on herself was the best thing Yukari could have done to lighten the mood. Before too long, we were chatting freely, swapping stories in much the same way Lily and I would. At first, we talked mostly about classical music in general, and about the upcoming concert in particular. By the time our food arrived, however, Yukari had steered the topic away from work, and we began to reveal more and more of our personal lives to each other.

But like the proverbial elephant in the living room, the romantic undercurrent between us was too obvious to ignore for long. The flirting was subtle at first – a sideways glance here, a tilt of the head there – but soon escalated to more obvious signals like gratuitous compliments and occasional touches to each other's hands. Unable to focus on anything else but Yukari, I found myself hanging on her every word, and gazing raptly at her as if I was trying to commit every small detail of her beautiful face to memory.

But despite the fact that we were flirting openly, we never really made it back to where we were before the waiter interrupted Yukari in mid-sentence. I found that frustrating, because even though I was pretty sure I knew what she was going to say, I still wanted to hear it. Unfortunately, she never volunteered to finish the thought, and I didn't have to courage to ask.

Just as I thought things had hit a dead end, Yukari took the conversation in a direction that finally laid to rest any doubts I had about her attraction to me.

"Man, that was good," she said, pushing back her empty plate. "These guys sure do right by eel. How was yours?"

"Delicious." In truth, I'd barely even been conscious of eating it.

"You should ask your boyfriend to bring you here," she said. "It's a nice place for a romantic meal."

It sounded like an offhand comment, but something told me it was really an unspoken question: _Are you single?_

"There is no boyfriend." I blurted it out without thinking, but before I had the chance to regret it, Yukari let out a delighted gasp.

"Oh, thank goodness!" With yet another blush, she clapped her hand over her mouth, and immediately began to backpedal. "Um…I mean, uh…that's what the men of Tokyo must be thinking. You know, thank goodness Akasaka-san's single. And available. Yeah, that's what I meant. And I'm doing it again, dammit."

Her flustered reaction was so adorable that I wanted to throw myself across the table and into her arms, but I decided to play it cool, and do a little investigative work of my own.

"I don't really care about the men of Tokyo or any other city," I said, choosing my words carefully. "Never have, to be honest. Men are more trouble than they're worth, and they're much less interesting and fun to be around than women."

Our eyes met, and from the glowing smile on her face, I immediately sensed that we understood each other.

"I totally agree with you." There was a subtle difference to her tone, barely discernable, but one that I picked up nonetheless: an element of heat that hadn't been there before. "Men are overrated. I'd much rather spend time, say, having lunch with a woman I find absolutely fascinating. You know, basically doing what I'm doing right now."

From that point, the sexual tension between us, which had been bubbling under the surface since she'd let slip that she thought I was "hot," began to boil over. I couldn't remember a word of what either one of us said. I was too busy bathing in the sound of Yukari's voice.

We were so engrossed in each other that we didn't notice that Arai's lunch service had ended, and that we were the only customers left in the dining room. It had been over two hours since we were seated, and yet to me it seemed like only a few minutes.

"Looks like we closed the place down." With a giggle, Yukari nodded toward our waiter, who was lurking in the background, trying not to make it obvious that he was waiting to clear our table. "I wish we could stay longer, but we should probably get out of his way."

With a nod, I slung my trumpet case over my shoulder and followed her out of the restaurant and across the hotel lobby. When we reached the deserted cluster of empty easy chairs and sofas opposite the front desk, she stopped and turned to face me. For the first time since we'd left her dressing room at the Pavilion, we were someplace where no one could overhear us talking together.

"I still owe you an answer," she said, her voice soft and a bit husky. "You know, to that question you asked me." She took a deep breath, as if to steady her nerves. "You're not just pretty, Akasaka-san – you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met. I thought that way in Nagoya, and I still do."

The change in her demeanor was astounding. During lunch, she'd been her usual bubbly self, even while we flirted. But now, with no one else around to witness our exchange, the look on her face was so earnest, and so filled with longing, that I felt my insides turn to liquid.

"Yuzuki-san…I…you…we…"

Suddenly, I forgot how to form proper sentences. Yukari's words –_ the most beautiful woman I've ever met _– had scrambled my ability to reason. I gave up trying to answer, and allowed myself to get lost in those violet eyes.

After what seemed like an eon, Yukari broke the spell.

"I really should go," she apologized.

The seeming finality of those words broke my mind out of its stasis.

"Thanks very much for lunch. You've been so kind to me, and I'll never forget that. So…" I hesitated, not wanting her to leave me. At the back of my mind, a tiny voice kept saying that when she turned and walked away, there was no guarantee I'd see her again except from across the stage during the weekend's concerts. Naturally, I didn't want things to end that way, but my rational side reminded me that I had no reason to expect anything different. "…I guess this is it, then."

In response, Yukari raised her eyes to mine. There was a searching quality to her expression, as if she was trying to read something written deep inside of me. I held her gaze as best I could, although it's hard to appear calm when your abdominal muscles are clenching so hard that you can barely breathe.

"This doesn't have to be 'it,' Akasaka-san," she finally said. "I'm in town until 18:00 Sunday. That's about…what? Seventy-five hours from now. We have all kinds of time." Her expression turned hopeful. "So, um…when can I see you again?"

I thought my heart was going to explode from my chest.

"How about tonight?" I hoped I didn't sound too eager, although quite honestly, I would have fallen to my knees and begged shamelessly if that's what it would have taken to convince her.

"How about right now?" She giggled a bit at my dropped jaw before continuing, "That's a joke, of course, although I wish it wasn't. I have business to take care of, and I'm sure you do, too. It looks like we'll have to wait until later on, after I'm done rubbing elbows with the NSO Board. I'm not sure exactly how long that'll go, but I should be free sometime around, oh, 21:00 or so. We can meet here in the hotel lobby, if that's okay. And hey, how about we exchange phone numbers? That way, I can email you if I'm running late."

As if moving on its own, my hand lifted my cell to meet hers. Once the transfer was complete, I clutched the device to my chest as if it was some sort of holy relic. With Yukari's contact information in it, it might as well have been.

"Make sure you turn on the charm tonight," I said. "The more funds the Board raises, the more likely it is I'll get a raise come January."

My attempted joke wasn't that funny, but it drew an indulgent chuckle from her all the same.

"I'd rather be charming a certain trumpet player, but it can't be helped, can it?" She winked, and then added, "See you at 21:00, Akasaka-san."

The sultry way she said my name sent a shiver up my spine.

"I can't wait," I somehow managed to reply.

With that, Yukari turned and walked toward the bank of elevators at the far side of the lobby. I watched her go, silently marveling at how a girl with such understated curves could be so damned sexy. How I wished to God that it was already 21:00.

* * *

It's almost an unwritten rule that a girl has to share her triumphs and tragedies with her friends. And since my lunch with Yukari was a triumph of monumental proportions, the moment I walked out of the Imperial Minato's revolving front door, I pulled up Lily's contact page on my cell.

But she proved uncharacteristically difficult to contact by phone, and trying to reach her by email wasn't much more effective. From what I could gather from the few emails she responded to, she was somewhere in Bunkyou Ward with Masami-san – which shouldn't have surprised me after the chemistry I'd seen between them that morning, but still did – and wouldn't be back to Minato before I had to be at the music store to teach my usual Thursday evening private lessons.

After several rounds of emailing back and forth, we agreed to meet at my apartment in Shinjuku after I finished teaching. It was a win-win situation; she said she needed to talk to me about something important, and I was badly in need of her face-to-face moral support before my date with Yukari.

A few minutes past 19:00, I opened the door to my apartment to an unexpected sight: Lily in a black dress and stilettos.

"Excuse the fuck out of me for intruding," she called out. It was obvious that she'd subverted the routine etiquette phrase on purpose simply to mess with me, but rather than give her the satisfaction, I decided to play along.

"It's not like anyone's stopping you from barging in." That response earned me a stuck-out tongue and a pulled-down eyelid.

Lily looked surprisingly stunning. Of course, she would have looked gorgeous wearing a burlap bag, but this was impressive even by her standards. I couldn't remember seeing the dress before, which meant that it was probably new. The section that normally would have covered her stomach was cut away, exposing her toned abs and pierced bellybutton, and the plunging neckline showed off plenty of cleavage. Instead of allowing her golden hair to fall free, Lily had worked part of it into braids, which she wore circled around her head. It was clear that she'd put even more effort into her appearance than usual. I wondered which one of her half-dozen-strong harem had drawn the lucky straw for the evening.

"You certainly do clean up nicely," I said. "That dress really suits you, what there is of it. But what's the occasion for showing up on my doorstep practically naked? It won't get you into my panties, if that's what you're hoping."

"You flatter yourself, jerk," she said with her usual insolent grin, kicking off her heels in the entryway. "I certainly didn't wear this 'fuck me' outfit for your benefit, because you're not the one I'm going to be getting horizontal with tonight. That honor belongs to my date for the evening. Believe it or not, you're not the only one who got asked out."

I decided to ignore the lurid word picture of Lily in a love hotel bed.

"Really? Have I met him?"

"Oh, you know who it is, but more about that later." She gestured toward the damp towel wrapped around my hair. "You're a fine one to mock my dress, given how little you're wearing yourself."

Her point was well-taken. I'd only gotten out of the shower a few minutes before she arrived, so I was still in my bathrobe.

"Sorry. I've running behind all evening. The mother of my 18:00 student caught me on the way out. Normally, that woman wouldn't give me the time of day, but today of all days she wanted a full report. If she didn't pay me so well…argh. Whatever. Hey, I could use a little help with my hair, if it's not too much trouble."

"No prob. Got any tea?"

"In the carafe on the kitchen counter. I made it before I took my shower, so it's fresh. Bring one for me, too, please."

I was sitting in front of my bedroom mirror when Lily appeared with two mugs, one of which she set down on the dressing table in front of me.

"One order of tea, black. You gonna go with the usual 'do?" She was referring to my normal style of letting my hair hang to my waist and half-braiding the side-tails.

"Yeah, although when I saw what you did with yours, I almost changed my mind. It looks really nice. I like that halo effect, even if it's false advertising."

"It's supposed to be a crown, dumbass, but I'll take the back-handed compliment anyway. I've been feeling like a princess today, so…yeah." She finished with a low chuckle, more to herself than to me. Something in it caught my attention.

"Special date tonight, then?"

For a fleeting moment, I could have sworn I saw Lily blush.

"It's kind of a strange situation, but yeah, it's definitely special."

Setting down her mug, she took the comb from my hand and began to run it gently through my still-damp hair. I wondered if this was what she'd wanted to talk to me about, but despite my curiosity, I didn't press her for more. Lily wasn't one to hold back for long, so I figured she'd eventually let me in on the details.

"As much as we hang out at each other's places, it's been a long time since I've actually been in your bedroom," she said, glancing around at the Spartan furnishings: a twin bed, a vanity, and a dresser, with a matching bedspread and curtains in unadorned navy blue. "I'd forgotten how…um, boyish the décor is. That's new, though." She nodded toward a large wall poster of Yukari playing the piano in concert that hung in a frame on the wall by my bed.

"It came with her most recent album," I said, omitting the fact that I'd had to get up at 05:00 to submit one of the first 100 on-line preorders of the album to get it. I didn't need Lily teasing me about being obsessed with Yukari, even though after all that had happened that day, it would have been a fair assessment.

"So you really are going out with her tonight. Huh." Lily sounded like she still didn't quite believe it. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay," I lied.

"Bullshit. I can see you trembling. You're nervous as hell, aren't you?"

At first, I was tempted to deny her accusation, but from the look in her eye, I could tell she wouldn't buy it.

"Scared to death."

"Ah, now we're getting somewhere," Lily said. "Maybe it'd help if you talk to me about it. That's the main reason I'm here, right? Besides, you still owe me a report on your lunch date."

"Let's get my hair taken care of first," I replied.

One lengthy session with the blow-dryer later, Lily retreated to the edge of my bed with her tea mug, watching and listening while I worked on my half-braids and told her about my afternoon, from the time I left her in the Pavilion through that final conversation with Yukari in the hotel lobby. Most of it was hardly news to her, because between my emails and what she'd learned from Masami-san, she already had the gist of what happened. After I got the whole story out, I confessed my lingering misgivings.

"I'm having a hard time believing this whole thing isn't a joke," I said. "I keep expecting someone to pop around a corner with a TV camera and tell me I've been punked. And I'm still not a hundred percent clear on exactly what there is between us. I mean, what if I'm misreading her, and all she wants is my friendship?"

After a long moment, Lily let out a weary sigh.

"You're doing it again."

"What?"

"Thinking too much," she said, placing her empty tea mug on the nightstand and leaning forward to force eye contact. "Listen to me, Ia. Yuzuki-san is totally into you. You're not imagining it – it's a fact. Masami-san even confirmed it. Apparently, Yuzuki-san was bombarding her with emails saying how wonderful you are, among other things. And get this: Masami-san even had to talk Yuzuki-san out of making up some excuse to get out of her engagement with the Board this evening. It seems she didn't want to wait until 21:00 to see you again. Masami-san says she's never seen her boss act this way. Tonight's going to go just fine, I'm telling you."

"You're saying all the right things, so why am I not as sure about this as you are?" I pressed my fingers to my temples, as if massaging them could make my anxiety magically disappear. It didn't work. "You're always so confident when it comes to love and sex. I'm not like you, Lily."

"Well, yeah, normally that's true, but tonight even Masuda Lily, the NSO's very own love goddess, is a little out of her depth." After forcing out a tight laugh, she looked away, twiddling her fingers in her lap. The blush I was pretty sure I'd seen before returned, and there was no mistaking it this time. It was a rare display indeed for a woman who had as little shame as anyone I'd ever known. "Remember how I said tonight was going to be a bit unusual? Um, so…what would you say if I told you my date is a girl?"

I looked at her suspiciously, wondering if this was yet another prank. But while Lily had needled me about everything imaginable during our long friendship, she had never once made light of things like gender identity or sexual orientation. When I'd finally had the courage to come out to her all those years ago, our friendship never missed a beat. So I decided that her statement must have been absolutely serious. And then it dawned on me.

"It's Masami-san, right?" It was the only name I could come up with that made sense. "I guess this is what you wanted to tell me about."

"Bingo. So, yeah…I mean, I haven't gone out with another woman since, like, ever, so I kind of hoped you would give me some pointers, seeing that you're the only one I can ask about girl-on-girl kinds of things."

If Lily hoped to distract me from my apprehension over the upcoming evening with Yukari, she'd done a good job of it – too good, in fact. When a friend you're convinced is heterosexual tells you she's going on a date with another woman, and not only expects the evening to end in hot lesbian sex but is looking forward to it, it's not exactly a minor revelation. I honestly didn't know what to say, so I just stared back at her, trying to wrap my mind around it all.

"You seem like you're having trouble with this," Lily said, eyeing me warily. "To be honest, that kind of surprises me. I figured that of all people, you'd be more accepting."

I couldn't keep my reply from sounding bitchy.

"Well, excuse me for needing a moment to regroup. I thought you were straight, Lily. Or have you been lying to me all this time?"

"If I have to put a label on myself, then yes, I'm straight," Lily said, reacting to my snark with surprising calm. "Sorry, Ia. I wish there was a simple way to explain what's going on between Masami-san and me, but there isn't. All I can tell you is that she may very well be the one gay hiccup in my straight existence. And even then, I'm not really sure if that's true. That's kind of the point of going out with her tonight, to find if she's the one exception."

"Only one? What if you like being with a woman? How many more 'exceptions' will there be? And how am I supposed to interpret your jokes and innuendo now?"

At first, Lily appeared hurt by the bitterness in my voice, but after a moment, the light of comprehension dawned on her face.

"If you're worried about me suddenly seeing you differently, don't. I can't speak for you, but for me, nothing's going to change between us. We've been together forever, and you've never so much as made me tingle. That's no different right this minute, even though you're one pull of the robe belt from being completely naked. It ain't gonna happen, Ia. Besides, you'd be the shittiest lover imaginable."

I bristled at the perceived insult.

"How the hell would you know what I'm like in bed? Of all the –"

"Sorry, that came out wrong," Lily interrupted, waving her hands in protest. "I meant that we'd be no good together as lovers, because we'd drive each other crazy. We're much better as friends, because we need that kind of space to get along. You're the best friend I've ever had, Ia, and the most important. I don't want to lose what we have right now, because I could never replace it as long as I lived."

Leave it to Lily to make me feel like a fool for overreacting. Even though I knew she loved me, she normally had a funny way of showing it, and it wasn't often that I got such a forthright statement of how much our friendship meant to her. Of course, she wouldn't have been Lily if she hadn't immediately and completely ruined the warm, fuzzy mood with a perverted wisecrack.

"Besides, you're not my type. Your tits aren't big enough…although I'll admit the last time I groped-…erm, inspected them, they were certainly firm enough. Time to update my database." She stood up from the bed, and with an exaggerated mad-scientist cackle, took a step toward me, wiggling her fingers suggestively. "Come on, Ia, be a good girl and let Lily-oneesama examine your boobs."

"Don't touch my chest, you perverted bitch!" With a scowl, I clamped my hands protectively over the front of my bathrobe. "Save the octopus routine for your date. And don't go calling yourself my 'onee-sama.' Didn't you just say I wasn't girlfriend material?"

"Who said anything about romance? This is plain old sexual harassment." After another second or two of finger-wiggling, Lily let loose a deep, throaty guffaw, and sat back down on the bed. "Thank you ever so much for reacting. You never fail to disappoint me."

As tempting as it was to tell her to kiss my ass, I was afraid she'd actually try it, so I swallowed the snappy comeback. Still, I had to admit that Lily's shenanigans had done the trick, because I felt my distress and confusion recede. But even so, I had one more question.

"Why Masami-san?"

Lily shrugged.

"That's a good one." She paused for a moment to think. "It's not so much that she's gorgeous, because I've been around plenty of truly beautiful women in my life, including you…" I tried to protest her compliment, but she ignored me and kept right on talking. "…and I never even felt a tremor. Dry as a bone, every time. And yet she's different somehow. Maybe it's the way she carries herself, I don't know, or the way she glows when she looks at me. Remember that j-pop song from a while back, the MikuLuka duet that had everyone buzzing?"

"You mean _Magnet?_ Sure, I remember it. Gayest song since _I Don't Do Boys. _But what does that have to do with anything?"

"It sounds crazy and perverted, but I've been hearing that damned song in my head since I met her this morning. I can't help it." Lily's eyes fluttered closed, and she smiled, as if lingering over the memory. "When she came back out to talk to me, after she took you to see Yuzuki-san, I bought her that milk tea. It turned into lunch, and then I tagged along while she ran errands. That's how we wound up in Bunkyou. I can't explain why I see her differently, other than that she's the right combination of smooth, smart, and sexy. By the time we were on the train home, _Magnet_ was playing on infinite loop in my brain. That's how intense my emotions were, and that scared me, because, well, she's not a guy. But still, I can't help really wanting to find out what it would be like to be with her. If I was the sort of girl to obsess over my sexuality – Am I gay? Bi? Pan? Only bi-curious? – I'd probably wind up talking myself out of tonight, but I'm not exactly the thinking kind. That's your department. So I'm just going to do what I always do."

"Wing it, and hope for the best?"

"Exactly. Wing it, and hope for the best." Her eyes opened again, and she turned them on me; they gleamed with a sense of purpose I rarely saw from her. "It wouldn't hurt you to do the same with Yuzuki-san. Think about it. You've got a date with the famous pianist you've lusted after for years – the one whose picture you have hanging on your wall." She pointed to the framed poster of Yukari. "She wants you just as much as you want her. Unless you pull a really dumb move, like puking on her shoes or something, you're going to get laid. You've always wanted this, so now's not the time for second-guessing. Quit navel-gazing and embrace the fantasy."

Lily sounded so absolutely convinced that what she was saying was true that I began to let go of my reservations. As it finally sank in that I was more than likely going to end the night in Yukari's arms, my hormones began to surge. It was something I wanted badly, but had hardly dared to hope for. Still, Lily had an annoying way of making the sublime sound ridiculous, even when she was trying to be encouraging.

"Geez, you don't have to make it sound so…cheap."

"It doesn't matter what words I use to describe it, it's reality. If you back out now, it'd be like hitting a ¥100 million lottery and refusing to claim the prize because you weren't sure how to spend it."

"I never said I was backing out," I countered. "Only that I…oh, never mind. Look, are you going to give me a few minutes of privacy or what? I need to get dressed."

"I'll give you ¥2,000 if you let me stay and watch." Lily's grin was even more insolent than usual. "I'll up it to ¥10,000 if you let me take that robe off myself."

"What am I, a soap girl? Keep your money, you perverted old man."

"Some friend," Lily said, putting on her best fake pout. "She can't even handle a bit of harmless skinship. Fine. I'll be waiting in the living room. We might as well head over together, since we both have to be at the hotel at the same time." When she reached the doorway, she turned back toward me to deliver her parting shot. "Remember to wear lacy underwear." When I stared blankly at her, she added, "If you were serious, you'd go commando, like me, because what a girl _doesn't_ wear is almost as important as what she _does_ wear. But since you're too much of a coward to go without lingerie, make it cute, frilly, and preferably black. It'll give Yuzuki-san something interesting to tear off your body."

"Get out, dammit!"

I reinforced the demand by launching my hairbrush in Lily's general direction, but she dodged it easily, and retreated through the door, slamming it shut behind her. Ignoring her muffled laughter, I focused instead on pulling together my outfit for the evening: a black, off-the-shoulder crop-top that I'd matched with a pleated, low-rise miniskirt in contrasting salmon. I hadn't worn that outfit in a while, but it had turned its share of heads in the past, and I was convinced it would have the same effect on Yukari.

_It'll be a cold day in hell before I follow Lily's advice, _I thought, pulling a leopard-pattern push-up bra and a black thong from my underwear drawer. _If it I left it up to her, she'd have me looking like a prostitute. _

But after I shrugged off my bathrobe and stood naked in front of the mirror, I began to reconsider.

_What would turn Yuzuki-san on the most? _I imagined her reaction as she palmed my unrestrained breasts through my top, or ran those long, elegant fingers up under my skirt, only to find nothing but bare skin. At the very thought of her hands on me, I felt the heat of arousal begin to build deep inside. I wasn't even touching my nipples, and yet they hardened all on their own as I pictured Yukari pulling up my top to take one between her teeth, and telling me what a dirty girl I was for not wearing any panties.

The mental image was enough to convince me that just this once, Lily might be onto something. I put the underwear back in the drawer, and after pulling on the rest of my outfit, headed for the living room without looking back.

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**A/N:**

− Once again, my dedicated team of beta readers, Musican74 and Gray Voice, kept this story on track. I'm grateful for all their input to this chapter.

− _I Don't Do Boys_, released by Icelandic pop band Elektra in 2009, may very well be the single most lesbian song ever recorded. Check it out on YouTube at clip cUiOgcuD_x0. (_Warning:_ both the song lyrics _and_ the associated video are NSFW!)

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	3. Passacaglia

_**DISCLAIMER: **_I don't own any of the Vocaloid characters appearing in this story. They're the intellectual property of the various software companies. This story constitutes "fair use" of these characters as provided for under applicable U.S. and international copyright laws.

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**Chapter 3: Passacaglia**

Lily and I walked through the Imperial Minato Hotel's revolving front door at a couple minutes past 21:00. Neither Yukari nor Gumi were anywhere to be seen, so we stationed ourselves in the same waiting area where Yukari and I had parted that afternoon, trying not to look as impatient as we felt.

As I stared holes into my phone's touchscreen, willing the time display to move past 21:02, I found myself unable to stop fidgeting. My restlessness wasn't due to nerves – thanks to Lily's encouragement, those had long since settled – but to anticipation, which was rising steadily with each passing minute.

An hour or so earlier, I'd gotten a surprisingly affectionate email from Yukari saying the Board dinner had ended, and that she couldn't wait to see me again. To get such a message from her was a rush in itself, but it was the final line that had sent my hormones into a spiral:

_You will never, ever forget tonight! I'll make sure of it!_

The promise in those words had my imagination in overdrive. I was tempted to read them yet again, but I fought off the urge to open the email, knowing that it would only make me even more anxious to be reunited with her. As things already stood, I felt like a child who'd been promised a bagful of her favorite candy, only to be tortured by having it held maddeningly out of reach for hours on end.

Meanwhile, Lily paced back and forth nearby, threatening to wear a hole into the waiting area carpet. She looked as jumpy as I felt.

"Is my hair okay?" She paused her forced march long enough to inspect herself in the reflection of the lobby's glass wall. "I mean, nothing's out of place, is it?"

With a weary sigh, I stuffed my cell back into my purse. Like many women, Lily was her own worst critic, but she had no reason to be, especially with that almost-dress clinging to her model-like figure. Even so, for a fleeting moment, I thought about saying, _Oh, my God, one of your braids is loose, and it looks hideous!_ It would serve her right after all the teasing I'd endured at her hands, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. We were both taking this evening far too seriously to play those kinds of games.

"Your halo is still as angelic it was the last time you asked, oh, two minutes ago," I said, smiling to soften the sarcasm a bit. "Look, would you stop worrying? It's not like you."

"Can't help it. This is new territory for me."

As much as I sympathized with Lily's anxiety, deep down I wanted to strangle her with her viola strings. On the Metro ride to Roppongi, I'd finally found out why she just happened to be meeting Gumi at the exact time and place I was meeting Yukari: she wanted the four of us to go out as a group. Her excuse was that she didn't want to take Gumi to any of her regular hangouts for fear of running into one or more of her sizable group of male admirers. Knowing that I intended to invite Yukari to my usual hang-out in Shinjuku Ni-choume, she begged me to allow Gumi and her to tag along.

My first instinct was to refuse. After all, who wants the hottest date of their life to play out in front of an audience? Still, I could tell that my normally carefree best friend was completely off her game, and no matter how she tried to spin it, deep down she needed me to be there for her, at least until she was sure of herself with Gumi. Otherwise, she wouldn't have dreamed of intruding on Yukari and me. So in the end, I wound up giving in, but that didn't mean I was completely happy about the situation.

"You owe me for this, Lily. And you'd better not embarrass me in front of Yuzuki-san, either. I know how you get when you've been drinking. No 'wardrobe malfunctions' tonight, got it?"

Lily opened her mouth to reply, but immediately snapped it shut again when an electronic chime echoed across the lobby. Our conversation instantly forgotten, we both whipped around to face the bank of elevators along the far wall.

When I took one look at the two women who stepped out of the arriving elevator, a huge lump formed in my throat. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. It didn't matter, though, because Lily's hoarse whisper captured my reaction perfectly.

"Holy shit."

It was Yukari and Gumi, all right, but what an unbelievable contrast from the last time I'd seen either of them.

Lily was reacting to Gumi, and I could see why. The suit-clad professional of earlier in the day had transformed into something akin to a siren. She was wearing a form-fitting, sleeveless vest that showed off plenty of skin. It barely contained her ample chest, which appeared to be one bounce away from tearing the garment open in the front. Rounding out the ensemble was a pair of black, low-rise cargo pants that were stuffed into black leather high-heeled boots. Her wavy, jaw-length emerald shag hung loose, partially obscuring her eyes and giving her a wild, untamed aura.

Lily's hand clutched at my upper arm, her nails biting so deeply into my bicep that they threatened to draw blood.

"Oh. My. God." Her whisper morphed into a low groan. "Fuck. I think I just came, and all I did was look."

Ignoring Lily's sudden burst of inelegant hyperbole, I shook free of her death-grip. Gumi was hot – there was no debating the point – but she didn't make anywhere near the impression on me that her companion did.

The woman with Gumi was obviously Yukari, but I didn't recognize her at first because she had on a black knit skullcap and matching horn-rimmed hipster glasses. After a puzzled moment, I realized why she was wearing them. Even though classical musicians aren't typically recognized on the streets of Japan the way j-pop stars are, you never know who you'll meet. The last thing Yukari needed was to be spotted on the streets of Tokyo in the middle of a date with another woman. Without some sort of disguise, her distinctive violet ponytails would be a dead giveaway. But now, the tails were safely stuffed up under the skullcap with the rest of her hair, and she looked totally different from usual, at least from the neck up.

As for the rest of her…let's just say I was Pavlov's dog, and that the elevator chime was my signal to drool.

Yukari's jeans, bleached almost white and distressed to the point of showing skin through the tears on the thighs, were so deliciously tight that they appeared airbrushed across her slender hips, and so tantalizingly low-rise that they barely covered her mound. The black cotton a-shirt she'd chosen as a top clung to her as closely as the jeans did, and was cropped high enough to show a wide swath of her lower abs. I gazed with longing at the exposed skin, wondering how it would taste, and what sounds she'd make when I dragged my lips over it.

A cute little soft butch – that's how I'd always remember my impression of Yukari in that moment. From the tip of that skullcap to the soles of her bright purple sneakers, she was just my type. And I wanted her more than ever.

After a brief search of the lobby, Yukari's and Gumi's faces lit up in recognition when they caught sight of us, and they began walking across the polished granite toward the waiting area in a manner I could only describe as sultry. I heard Lily muttering something, but it didn't register. For me, just one other person existed: the girl with the glasses, whose every step toward me ratcheted the heat in my groin another degree upward.

One heartbeat, then a second, and a third, and they were standing in front of us. There was a long moment of silence while Yukari's gaze caressed me like fingers on my naked skin. My abs began to clench, and I breathed a prayer to any god who'd listen to let that metaphor become reality before the night was over.

"H-hi." I finally stammered out a greeting as the flush crept up the back of my neck again. Despite how freely we'd conversed over lunch, I now seemed unable to find two words to say this woman I desired so fiercely without blushing like crazy. At 22, I was certainly no maiden, but something in Yukari made me feel like I was fifteen again, trembling in the presence of my first love, the girl who'd taught me the true meaning of desire.

"Hey, there. You, um, look so…pretty tonight." The supreme confidence Yukari had displayed when I'd last seen her was strangely absent, replaced by eager uncertainty, as if she was the gender-bent version of a junior high school boy on his first date. "Your skirt…I, uh, like how it fits you." With a mournful glance downward, she motioned toward her shirt and jeans. "I knew I should've worn a dress. Look at me – I'm like a homeless person."

"No!" The word came out more forcefully than I'd intended, so in a much gentler voice, I added, "Don't say that. You're totally cute in that outfit."

At the word "cute," Yukari blushed as deeply as me, and waved a dismissive hand. It appeared as if she wanted to say something, but for whatever reason, no words came. I smiled, not because I'd struck her speechless, but because she looked so adorable when she was flustered.

The moment we shared didn't last long, thanks to Gumi, whose personal assistant's instincts kicked in.

"Okay, we need to get moving. No offense to present company, but I'm with the hottest girl in Japan…" – here she nodded toward Lily – "…and I've been waiting all day to dance with her."

For a change, Lily had no comeback. She was too busy reacting to the flattery by nibbling her bottom lip, thrusting out her chest, and otherwise sending off every nonverbal signal in the book that she considered herself Gumi the Huntress' very willing quarry.

"Dancing, a few drinks…that all sounds excellent," Yukari said, fixing me with another one of those devastating smiles. "But Gumi-chan and I aren't all that familiar with Tokyo nightlife, so it's up to you guys."

"No worries – my bestie knows just the place," Lily said, finally finding her voice, and throwing an arm around my shoulder for good measure. "Ain't that right?"

"Club Naiad is where I usually go. It's, uh, in Nichou." I glanced uneasily back and forth between Yukari and Gumi. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"Not for me," Gumi said with a grin. "It definitely won't be the first time I've been to a le-…" She caught herself in mid-word, glancing around to make sure she wasn't overheard. "…I mean, a women-only club. I don't know about the boss lady, though." She raised an eyebrow at Yukari. "You okay with this?"

"I'm not sure why you'd even ask." Yukari frowned at Gumi, as if to suggest it was a silly question, but her assistant merely shrugged in response.

"Just making sure, that's all."

"Geez, Gumi-chan, you already know I went underground clubbing when I was in college, at least when I wasn't playing out of town gigs." Yukari turned to speak to me again, and the frown was gone. "I don't mind going to Nichou, if that's what you want. With the hat and glasses, no one can tell who I am, so as long as we're discreet, I should be fine."

"Sounds like four 'yes' votes to me," Lily said, preempting further discussion. "Now that that's settled, let's not waste any more time. The night isn't getting any younger while we stand around shooting the shit. Let's go, gorgeous." She grabbed Gumi by the hand, and the two of them began walking toward the hotel entrance, bantering back and forth as they went.

After they disappeared outside, I said, "That Lily…she doesn't even know where Club Naiad is. We'd better follow them before the big blonde idiot drags Masami-san onto the wrong Metro line."

I took a step toward the door, only to feel Yukari's hand wrap around my wrist, pulling me back.

"Why so fast? There's no rush. They can't go very far on those heels." I turned back to find Yukari grinning at me. "Besides, we finally have a moment alone. I've been waiting for that all evening."

Yukari had clearly gotten over her initial bout of nerves, and was now as warm and cheerful as she'd been at lunch. But I still couldn't relax. The butterflies that had invaded my body when I first saw her that morning had returned with reinforcements, and when her eyes met mine, the entire swarm suddenly decided to stage a mass dogfight in the pit of my stomach. Their perpetual motion made it damned near impossible for me to think clearly, let alone hold up one end of a conversation.

"Me, too," I said, fidgeting nervously. "Hey, uh, sorry about that, um…yeah. It's just that…well, I thought we'd be by ourselves tonight, and then Lily…"

My words trailed off when Yukari abruptly let go of my arm and held a finger up in front of my lips.

"Don't. We can't change the situation, so let's just roll with it. It's not as bad as it seems, you know? I mean, at least we'll get a few laughs out of those two." With a smirk, she wrapped her arm around mine, much like she'd done in her dressing room earlier, but this time she clung to me much more tightly. The firmness of her small breasts against my arm turned my mouth desert-dry. "And anyway, they won't be with us the whole night, not if I can help it. When they start dancing, I give them maybe fifteen minutes before they find some excuse to leave. So the sooner they're out on the floor, the sooner I have you all to myself again. Which is sort of the point to this whole evening, if you get my drift."

I did, and so did the butterflies, which promptly began a mass migration from my stomach to my uterus.

"I…uh, I…I think…" I almost gave in to the surge of estrogen, which was urging me to say, _I think we should forget the club and go right upstairs to your room._ Fortunately, my brain fought off the attempt to jam its signals. Despite my body's clear and insistent demands, this wasn't just about sex. I wanted Yukari to woo me, to pursue me. To make me feel wanted. To sense how much I wanted her in return. I much preferred that our mating dance be a long, sensuous tango rather than ten minutes in the mosh pit. Still, it took near-superhuman effort to spit the words out.

"I think we'd better go, before Lily has Masami-san on a train for god-knows-where." As if on cue, I heard Lily's alert tone jangling from inside my purse. "Speak of the devil…"

_Which Metro line, Hibiya or Nanboku? And where the hell are you two? You're holding everything up!_

Yukari giggled when I showed her Lily's email.

"She's sounds impatient, doesn't she? I can understand why. To be honest, she's not the only one who wants to rub up against a certain pretty girl on the dance floor." She squeezed my arm even tighter as we walked toward the door. "You owe me at least one dance."

The thought of our bodies molded together made me gulp audibly.

"Only one?"

"One is all we'll need," Yukari answered with a low, throaty chuckle.

Deep inside, the butterflies began to dance for joy.

* * *

It took us about a half hour to get to Club Naiad, which was buried in the maze of side streets surrounding Shinjuku station, about four kilometers from the Imperial Minato. Like many smaller establishments in Ni-choume, you had to know where to look for it. For a regular like me, that wasn't a problem. I'd spent so much time at the club that I could probably find my way there blindfolded.

The unmarked front entrance was located on the first floor of an otherwise nondescript office building. When I knocked twice, the door opened to reveal the bouncer, a tall, intimidating biker butch in black leather and chains who stared down at the four of us, sizing us up.

"Welcome to Club Naiad. May I help you?" When she took a closer look at me, the light of recognition dawned, and a wintry smile flickered across her lips for an instant. "Oh, hey, Akasaka-san, welcome back. It's been a while." After I returned her greeting, she gestured toward the others. "Friends of yours?"

"Yeah." I introduced my companions, ending with, "…and Yuzuki-san." The woman nodded curtly at Lily and Gumi, but when she caught sight of my hand clasped in Yukari's, her smile grew a bit broader.

"Okay, since they're here with you, everyone gets the regular-customer discount," she told me, holding out her hand expectantly. "That'll be ¥1,000 apiece. Oh, and Mama-san's added a two-drink minimum since you were here last, so there's that." After Lily and I had produced the required bills, the bouncer waved the cash toward the interior of the facility. "The front's dead tonight, so you have your pick of seats. There's more action in the back. Have fun."

Although large by Ni-choume standards, Club Naiad wasn't nearly the size of the big nightspots near Shinjuku Station. Not counting a two-stall lavatory and a tiny kitchen, it amounted to just two large rooms. The one we'd entered, the lounge, contained a well-stocked bar with half a dozen stools, along with booths and tables that seated a further two dozen or so. To the right of the bar was the doorway to the back room, which housed the dance floor, the DJ booth, and several more tables. Judging from the bass line thumping through the floorboards, the DJ was mixing techno tracks that night.

As the bouncer had said, the lounge was nearly deserted. Four of the bar stools were occupied, but the booths and tables were all empty. We claimed the booth furthest from the bar, knowing that the dim lighting and relative isolation would guarantee us a measure of privacy, at least until the place started filling up later on. It was a good move, because Lily promptly draped herself over Gumi's shoulder like a black-and-blonde human cape, and her companion responded with an arm around Lily's waist, pulling her close.

_Geez, they aren't wasting any time,_ I thought. I was tempted to scold them for being too forward, but when Yukari followed Lily's lead by molding her hip and thigh to mine, I suddenly cared a lot less about appearances.

"Attention shoppers." Lily sounded as if she was making an announcement over a department store public address system. "Masuda needs a Cosmo. That is all."

With a chuckle, Gumi suggested that we order bar food, as well.

"To absorb the booze. You know, so Lily-chan doesn't end up under the table."

"Wouldn't be the first time I wound up on my knees during a date," Lily shot back. I winced at rudeness of her remark, but before I could say anything, both Gumi and Yukari burst into laughter. Relieved that they'd taken Lily's crude joke in stride, I nevertheless figured I'd better steer the conversation back on topic before she said something even less appropriate.

"They've got decent grilled skewers and fried tofu here. Those would definitely hit the spot. I think Yuzuki-san's the only one of us who's eaten."

"Actually, I haven't," Yukari grumbled. "Salty miso and rubbery mackerel…ugh. Barely edible. You'd think they'd have better food at those dinners. I didn't have any appetite, anyway. Too busy smiling at the old, rich people and wishing I was someplace where the company was a lot, um…prettier." Her hand found mine under the table and squeezed it gently.

"We'll get enough for everybody," I decided, squeezing back and hoping my voice didn't sound too shaky.

* * *

Forty-five minutes and two quick rounds of drinks later, the four of us were well on our way to losing that typically Japanese wall of reserve.

Lily appeared to have long since gotten over her uncertainty, and was now flirting as shamelessly with Gumi as she did with the men she dated. The two seemed totally relaxed with each other, and their easy rapport had in turn driven away the initial awkwardness between Yukari and me. In retrospect, the fact that they'd come to the club with us had worked for everyone. I made a mental note to thank Lily later for her unintentional services as wingman.

As for Yukari and me, our boundaries had grown quite soft indeed. By her second rum and coke, not only had she insisted that we move to a first-name basis, she'd also gotten quite generous with body contact, sliding her arm around my shoulders and waist during those moments when we shared a laugh or a quiet word, or seeking out my hand with her own under the table. She'd even fed me the occasional pork skewer, something I didn't usually agree to in public, even with serious girlfriends. It was Yukari, so how could I refuse?

Sober me would no doubt have been a bit embarrassed by all this, but after inhaling two plum wine coolers in quick succession, I no longer gave a damn about what anyone else thought. I was too wrapped up in Yukari, reveling in the attention she lavished on me. Nothing else mattered but her. She had me besotted, powerless to resist anything she said or did.

Fueled by the alcohol, and egged on by Lily – who didn't show a lot of restraint even when sober – the group conversation grew quite animated. Actually, "raucous" was a better word for it. To be fair, Lily and Gumi did most of the talking. Yukari and I were too busy laughing at their combined outrageousness to add much to the discussion.

Eventually, the topic got around to dancing.

"I don't get why they have a minimum at a place like this," the blonde said, her voice soft around the edges from the pair of Cosmos she'd knocked back. "I mean, come on. Why would I go to a goddamned bar and not drink? I can't get loose on a dance floor without alcohol."

"Same for me, but I don't need that much to get going." Despite matching Lily beer-for-Cosmo, Gumi appeared to be as sober as a judge. She surveyed her newly-empty bottle of Asahi approvingly. "Two of these and a good beat…that's more than enough for me to find my groove."

"Oh, did you lose it?" Lily's voice dripped with false innocence. "I'd love to help search your groove. I mean, search _for_ it. Your groove, that is." The mischievous glint in her eye left no doubt in my mind that the verbal slip had been fully intentional. Gumi appeared to realize this quite well, because she matched Lily's smirk with one of her own.

"And how exactly do you propose to do conduct this search, as if I didn't hope?"

When Lily whispered her reply in Gumi's ear, the buxom woman's eyes widened.

"You are such a goddamned tease, Lily-chan." A wolfish smile crept over Gumi's lips. "I need to get you out on the dance floor and see if that fine ass of yours can walk the talk."

The reply was vintage Lily sass.

"Is this a hands-on inspection? Because if it isn't, I'll be totally fucking disappointed." She began to nudge Gumi out of the booth. "Come on, stud, it's time to dance, and by 'dance' I mean grope each other's asses in front of everyone else. And maybe boobs, too, if we can do it without getting thrown out." She raised a questioning eyebrow at Yukari and me. "You guys coming along?"

When I turned to Yukari, I discovered her gaze on me again. To my surprise, there was such ardor in it that I could barely maintain eye contact. I wasn't sure why she was looking at me that way all of a sudden, but I definitely didn't dislike it.

"I've been ready since we got here," Yukari replied, directing her words toward Lily, but keeping her focus on me.

"It's go-time. Try to keep up with Gumi-chan and me…if you can. Which I doubt." With a sly wink and a flip of her hair, Lily followed Gumi toward the dance floor entrance before I could come up with the crushing retort her taunt deserved.

After sliding out of the booth, Yukari flashed another of her sunny smiles – did she have any idea how powerless I was to resist them? – and held out her hand. "Your pal Masuda-san's got a bit of an edge to her. But we're not going to let her and Gumi-chan show us up, are we?"

"Don't worry. Lily's good, but I've got a few moves up my sleeve."

"Oh, trust me, so do I," Yukari said as she led me across the lounge toward the dance floor. "And I think you're going to like them."

* * *

As we pushed through the door to the back room, a sonic wave of techno hit me like a body blow. Bursts of red, blue, and green light radiated from a glitter ball overhead, reflecting off of the lenses of Yukari's fake glasses. The air was thick with the mingled scents of perfume, sweat, cigarette smoke, stale beer, and a tiny hint of feminine arousal.

I looked around for Lily and Gumi, but they'd already disappeared onto the postage-stamp-sized dance floor, and were now somewhere among the dozen or so couples moving to the relentless four-on-the-floor beat. Their collective body heat made the atmosphere almost unbearably stuffy, to the point where beads of sweat began to form on my forehead.

Without breaking stride, Yukari led me straight into the crowd. When she finally found enough space for the two of us, she spun around to face me and began to sway in time with the music, which had just segued to a down-tempo jam. Her eyes locked onto mine, issuing an unspoken challenge.

_Impress me._

I responded by moving closer, syncing the movements of my hips and shoulders to hers. That earned me a speculative smile, so I decided to take things a step further by lacing my fingers into the hair at the back of my head and arching my back, thrusting out my breasts until they almost touched Yukari's. Her eyes broke contact and flicked downward to my cleavage, lingering there for a long moment before drifting upward. The desire on her face was almost feral.

I had to wonder: was it possible for a woman to climax from a single, smoldering glance? It had never happened to me, but then I'd never had anyone look at me with such need before. Yukari's psychic energy flowed across the narrow space between us like a heat ray, burning into my deepest parts, melting those butterflies that had plagued me all day into a white-hot lava flow of arousal.

I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted – no, _needed_ – her to touch me.

Twisting around so that I faced away from Yukari, I bent slightly downward, sweeping my hair out of the way to give her an unobstructed view of my backside. It had the exact effect I'd hoped for: her hands found their way to my hips, and she ground against my rear end from behind. At the contact, I let out a low moan that – thankfully – no one but me could hear amid the cacophony that surrounded us. Still gyrating my butt against her, I leaned backward until her breasts met my shoulder blades. Her hands slid around to my stomach, stroking the bare skin above the waistband of my skirt as her hips slid up and down over my clenching glutes. The back of my hand made it to my mouth just in time to stifle a second, much louder moan, as hot moisture began pooling between my thighs.

Quick as thought, Yukari spun me around to face her again, and her hands found their way back to my hips. I responded by resting my forearms on either side of her neck. We danced like this for who knew how long, our bodies millimeters from touching, our hands occasionally wandering. The entire time, Yukari's eyes never left mine. Not that I could look away – even through the black hipster frames, those violet depths had me firmly by the soul. Everything else – the other dancers, the music, the club itself – faded to black, leaving Yukari and me alone in our own private universe.

Then, in a single, galvanizing moment, that universe tilted on its axis when Yukari leaned in to kiss me.

It was only a gentle, lingering touch of the lips, but it sent my head spinning. Suddenly, it didn't matter where we were; I had to taste Yukari again. Still moving with the music, I reached out to stroke her cheeks and jawline, then cupped her face in my hands and pulled her to me, capturing her upper lip between my own, massaging it ever so gently for a moment before doing the same with her lower lip. Then my tongue sought out hers, twirling around it sensuously. Then I did it all again, this time in a different order, and yet again, over and over. I didn't want to stop – Yukari's soft, sweet mouth was a drug, and my addiction was instantaneous – but we eventually pulled apart, gasping for breath. With a jolt, I realized that we'd stopped dancing, and were standing there each other's arms, lost in the sensations. Several of the women around us grinned knowingly, and one or two flashed us the victory sign, but before I could even think of being embarrassed, Yukari grabbed me by the hand and practically dragged me off the dance floor.

When we made it back to the relative quiet of the lounge, I could finally ask, "Hey, where are we going? Was that our one dance?" I devoutly hoped so, because as far as I was concerned, all that remained was for Yukari and me to get each other alone and bringing things to their much-anticipated conclusion.

"Yeah, we're leaving," Yukari replied. Her voice sounded as shaky as my legs felt. "But I've got to go, um…freshen up first."

"I'll keep you company," I said, catching her hint.

* * *

Without bothering to check if the restroom was deserted – which it was, fortunately – Yukari immediately hauled me into one of the stalls. After slamming the door shut and latching it, she pushed me against the wall, winding herself around me like a vine on a trellis.

"Wow…just, wow," she breathed, her eyelids hooded with undisguised lust. "I never thought it could be like this. Nobody ever kissed me the way you do."

Somehow, I managed to stutter out a response, even though her warmth was turning my brain to mush.

"S-…s-…seriously? N-nobody?"

"No," she replied. "Nobody. Oh, God, Ia-san, kiss me again!"

Before I could answer, she crushed her lips against mine, and the unbearable sexual tension that had been building between us the entire day finally burst forth like a jets of water through a failing dam.

Overcome by the flood of raw feelings, Yukari and I clung to each other, shamelessly molding our bodies together, playing our primal duet tongue to tongue, breast to breast, and hip to hip. My mind buckled under the weight of the sensory bombardment: the taste of the rum on Yukari's lips, the floral fragrance of her shampoo, the tingle of her nipples against mine through two layers of clothing, and the firmness of that boyish ass under my hands. Every other kiss I'd ever shared with a lover paled in comparison to what Yukari was doing to me, even my very first.

Suddenly, the restroom door slammed open, obliterating our shared moment of passion and yanking us both back to reality. Yukari clamped a hand over my mouth to stifle my exclamation of surprise, and we froze in mid-embrace, hoping that whoever it was didn't discover us. Seconds crawled by like eons as the unwanted intruder took much longer than I thought was necessary to finish her business. When she finally left, Yukari pulled her hand away from my face, and we both heaved a sigh of relief.

"Geez, that was close," she muttered. "You almost made me lose it with those amazing trumpet-player lips. Seriously, my brain totally switched off." She squirmed out of my arms and took a step backward. "No more, Ia-san. If we keep it up, I won't be able to stop. I want you – God, you have no idea how badly – but not here, and not now."

She had a point. Even though the alcohol had played havoc with my inhibitions, I still had my self-respect underneath it all. As much as I wanted Yukari to make love to me right then, I wasn't about to cheapen the experience by giving it up to her in a shabby bathroom stall in Ni-choume.

"Come home with me, Yukari-san." I decided I could definitely get used to saying that name, particularly in the heat of the moment. "My apartment's only a five-minute walk from here."

"But…but there's a love hotel a block away," she said, throwing me a pout worthy of Lily at her manipulative best. "I don't want to wait. I want you. Now."

The way she said those words nearly made me climax on the spot, but I held firm.

"It doesn't cost anything to stay at my place. Besides…" My voice sank to a low growl. "…you get to do me in my own bed. All night."

With a shuddering sigh, Yukari capitulated.

"Damn your logic, woman." She yanked open the stall door and began to haul me through it. "Hurry. We can shave off a couple minutes if we run."

* * *

As eager as Yukari and I both were, we didn't wind up running to my apartment after all. Not only would it have been undignified, but dangerous, because even though it was approaching 23:00 on a weeknight, Shinjuku's streets were still teeming with both vehicles and pedestrians. Any attempt to move faster than a moderately-paced walk would have quickly turned into a hazard-filled steeplechase. Under the circumstances, Yukari and I had little choice but to navigate our way through the crowds as fast as we could, a task made all the more difficult by the fact that we were arm in arm, practically joined at the hip.

Even so, it didn't take us all that long to reach my building. Once we were safely in the stairwell, out of public view, I pulled Yukari into a short but steamy kiss before leading her in the final sprint up one flight of stairs to my second-floor apartment. Somehow, I got the door unlocked in spite of Yukari's roving hands. Within moments, our shoes lay in a heap in my entryway, and we were standing just inside my living room, finally alone.

We faced each other, enveloped in a silence so dead that I swore I could hear my heart thudding in my chest. Slowly, deliberately, Yukari pulled the black frames from the bridge of her nose. The skullcap followed, allowing the twin side-tails to fall free. After another two heartbeats of silence, the hat and glasses suddenly sailed over her shoulder, and she pounced on me like a tigress seizing her prey, pressing her body so tightly to mine that it seemed as though she was trying to fuse the two of us into a single entity. Her fingers found their way under my blouse, tracing up and down the skin of my back and shoulders, and leaving trails of fire in their wake. Powerless to do anything else, I clung to her as if I was drowning, and in a sense, I was – drowning under a tidal wave of Yukari.

I'm not sure how long we stayed that way – seconds, minutes, hours – but it seemed like forever, and yet not long enough. Just as my knees were about to give out, Yukari broke off the kiss, pulled out of my arms, and walked across the living room to the sofa. With a thump, she flopped down into a sitting position and patted her thighs with her palms.

"Come here."

The hunger in her command turned my legs so rubbery that I wasn't sure I was capable of taking a single step, but my arms felt so empty without her in them that I knew I had to try. Somehow, I made it over to the sofa without falling on my face, and climbed onto Yukari's lap, straddling her knees. My half-braids dangled down onto her chest, their light gray mingling with the violet of her ponytails.

The entire front of my body, from my aching breasts to the bubbling cauldron of lust between my legs, was at Yukari's mercy. If she raised her hands a short distance, every part of me would be hers. And oh, how I craved the touch of those gifted fingers. I stared down at her, silently willing her to explore the glorious treasures that lay waiting under my top and skirt, but she merely smirked back at me, as if daring me to beg her for it. The staring contest lasted only a few seconds before I gave in out of sheer desperation.

"Touch me," I whined, then reclaimed her lips with a ferocity that matched the need consuming me from the inside. Yukari kissed me back just as ravenously, and as our tongues wrestled, she responded to my plea by sliding her hands under my blouse. Her fingertips fluttered over the bare skin of my stomach, causing my abs to spasm with delight, working their way upward with maddening slowness. The anticipation was almost unbearable. Finally, her palms grazed the underside of my mounds, and when she squeezed them gently, I pulled out of our kiss with a gasp.

"You're so sensitive. Hey, Ia-san…" My name again…why was it that every time she purred it in my ear, I shuddered, and got a little closer to coming? "…what happens when I do…this?"

Without warning, her thumbs and index fingers closed around the pebbled tips of my breasts, sending white-hot shards of pleasure tearing through my consciousness. I arched my back, biting my lip in an unsuccessful effort to muffle a groan of satisfaction.

"Oh, my God, that sounded _so_ hot. _You're_ so hot." Yukari's eyes bored into the front of my blouse. "And they feel awesome. So round and firm. I want to taste them."

So frantic was I to get her mouth on me that I practically tore the expensive silk material to shreds as I stripped it from my body. Its ragged remains hit the floor, leaving me naked from the waist up, fully exposed for Yukari see.

"They're perfect." She gazed reverently at my breasts, as if they were precious treasures. Then, abruptly, her expression changed, and she looked up at me with a mischievous twinkle and drawled, "_Itadakimasu,_" before burying her face in my cleavage.

My breath hitched as Yukari launched her glorious assault. She seemed bent on exploring every square millimeter of my swollen, sensitive flesh, driving me perilously close to madness with constant licking and sucking, nibbling and teasing. Threading my fingers into her hair, I gave in to the wonderful impulses that were rippling outward from my breasts to my fingers and toes and back again.

Yukari's caresses quickly pushed me to the brink of release, but before I could implore her to touch me down below, she anticipated my need, almost as if she'd read my mind. As her tongue teased my beleaguered nipples – which were so hard by now that they almost hurt – her hands slid up my thighs and under my skirt, seeking out the clenching muscles of my rear end. After giving them a firm squeeze – which forced yet another hiss of pleasure out of me – her fingers moved still further upwards to my waistband. About the time that I realized what she was searching for, she pulled her face from my chest and grinned up at me.

"No panties? Really, Ia-san, you're such a bad girl."

The words very nearly sent me over the edge.

"Oh hell, yes, I'm a bad girl," I whimpered. "Punish me. Punish your bad girl."

"I should tease you," Yukari said, her voice thick with passion, "but I don't want to. I want to make you come. Does my bad girl want to come?"

My reply was closer to a sob than to actual speech.

"Yes! Please make me come…please…"

With that, one of Yukari's hands pulled from my backside, and a moment later, I felt it snake underneath the front of my skirt. I barely had time to prepare myself before it dove straight into the lake of fire between my thighs.

A loud moan burst from my lips as Yukari's fingers glided through my sopping core and began to work their wizardry. The skilled digits, trained to conquer the most difficult piano pieces ever written, played an excruciating sonata on the diamond-hard nub at the top of my cleft, diving back into the slick between my lips after each glorious phrase to gather more nectar for the next. I leaned forward and braced my hands against the wall behind the sofa, rocking my hips back and forth in time with the motion of Yukari's hand, grunting with each forward thrust: "unh…unh…unh…"

With Yukari hitting all the right spots, there was no way I could last for long. After only a few strokes, my insides suddenly collapsed into a tiny, dense, neutron star of pure pleasure, which burned through me for a long agonizing moment before finally exploding to smithereens.

"Yukari-san…!"

The cry of release thundered through the living room as my body jerked and writhed, twisted and shook, riding out the shockwaves that blasted their way from Yukari's still-moving hand straight to my brain. After what seemed like an eternity, I slumped forward, spent, burying my face in Yukari's shoulder. She responded by pulling her hand from between my thighs and wrapping her arms around me, holding me close. An overwhelming sense of well-being settled over me like a thick, comfortable mantle.

As I lay in Yukari's embrace, drifting downward from the mind-bending climax, the emotions welled up inside of me. I'd never felt so deeply bound to another human being. This was no celebrity crush turned club hook-up, but a lasting emotional connection, I was sure of it. Yuzuki Yukari had claimed me, body and soul, and I now belonged to her. Adoration welled up inside me, overflowing into spoken words.

"I love you, Yukari-san. I love you so much."

There was no immediate response other than a sharp intake of breath near my ear. Then, after several seconds of silence, a pair of hands pushed gently against my stomach.

"Please…get up…"

With a groan, I crawled off of Yukari's lap and leaned back against the sofa cushions, holding my arms out to her, silently beckoning her to me. But to my surprise, she stood up and strode across the room, retrieving her glasses and cap as she went.

"What's going on? What's wrong, Yukari-san?"

Not only did she not answer, she wouldn't even look at me. Instead, she sat down in the entryway to the apartment and began pulling her sneakers on, as if she was preparing to leave. At that point, I realized that something had gone wrong, but I was still a bit disoriented from our lovemaking, so I had a hard time getting my mind around what was happening.

"Yukari-san, talk to me."

She remained silent for several more seconds. Only when her sneakers were neatly tied did she finally stand up and turn to face me. When her eyes met mine, I was stunned to find them brimming with tears.

"Why'd you have to go and say that?"

"What? What did I say?"

"Why'd you have to bring love into this? Telling me you love me…why'd you have to complicate things? How am I supposed to respond?"

Her words were like cold water to the face. Even though I'd meant every word, if I'd been thinking rationally, I would never have confessed out loud. After all, Yukari was leaving Tokyo in three short days. A relationship wasn't possible, even if she felt the same way, which I was pretty sure she didn't. Under the circumstances, why even bother to tell her my feelings? It was far better not to trouble her with them, and to content myself with whatever she was willing to give me. But the orgasm had driven all this from my mind, and by blurting out my thoughts, I'd wound up troubling her anyway.

"I'm so sorry," I said, my voice breaking. "I didn't mean to force myself on you. I'll never say that again. You don't even have to accept. Just being with you is enough for me, even if it's for one night."

Those beautiful eyes, the ones that had such power over me, began to overflow, a tiny droplet running down first one cheek, and then the other.

"You don't get it, do you? Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, I want to respond to your feelings? But I can't." She tried to wipe away the dampness, but only succeeded in smearing it all over her cheeks. "I wasn't looking for this – I don't do one-nighters – but when I saw you this morning, I couldn't help myself. I thought, 'It's the girl from Nagoya. She's so hot, and she's totally into me, and I'm so goddamned lonely.' I figured that after a year and a half of going without, one round of casual sex wouldn't kill me. Besides, it'd be over when I left town. No problem, right? But every minute I spent with you today I got in a little deeper. And now I can't lie to myself anymore about this being just a fling, not now that you've forced the issue. As for me…dammit, I don't know _how_ to react, or even if I should. I'm so confused right now."

I didn't know what to say, but it didn't matter, because Yukari's tears had struck me dumb. Each glistening track was like a razor slashing at my heart. All I could think to do was to touch her, to feel her against me one more time. But when I stood up from the couch and took a step toward her, she held up a hand to stop me.

"Don't. I want to hold you so badly right now, but…don't. It'll only make things worse." She paused to stuff her hair up under the skullcap. Then, after pushing the costume frames back into place, she turned toward the apartment door. "I'm really sorry for doing this, but I need some space. I've got to get my head on straight. I don't want to be on that plane to the States on Sunday, all by myself – again – without knowing if it's worth the pain."

The remnants of my composure finally shredded, and my own tears finally spilled over. Desperate to keep her from leaving, I tossed my dignity aside, begging like a small child for her to stay.

"Please don't go, Yukari-san. I'll say anything, do anything, be anything you want. We don't even need to have sex. Just be with me for one night. Please."

Without turning to face me, she replied, "I'm sorry. Good night, Ia-san. I'll…" I heard her bite back a sob. "…call you."

Through swimming eyes, I watched as the door slammed behind her. I stared at where she'd been standing, telling myself that this was all a bad joke, and that she'd come back inside, take me in her arms, and apologize by making sweet love to me. But as the seconds ticked by, I had to accept that it wasn't going to happen.

The combined weight of embarrassment, regret, and shame became too much to bear, and I sank to my knees, sobbing. I hadn't the faintest idea what to do or think. All I knew is that I belonged in Yukari's arms, and because I'd said the wrong thing at the wrong time, I'd driven those arms from me.

"Yukari!" My voice was barely above a whisper. I'm not sure why I called her name, because it wouldn't be enough to bring her back to me, but I couldn't stop myself. "Yukari!"

We had a dress rehearsal and a concert the next day. How was I going to face her, much less play music on the same stage as her, without falling to pieces?

_She said I'd never forget tonight, and she sure as hell was right, _I thought. _Oh, God, this can't be happening…_

* * *

**A/N:**

− As usual, my humble gratitude goes to my beta-reading team, Musician74 and Gray Voice, for their valuable assistance during the writing of this chapter.

− "Nichou" is a colloquial name for Shinkjuku's Area 2 (Ni-choume), the hub of LGBT culture in Tokyo.

− Roppongi is an upscale neighborhood in western Minato Ward. In this story, it's the location of the fictional Asahi Pavilion and Imperial Minato Hotel.

− The clothes Gumi wears on her date with Lily are based on her costume in a particular MMD clip for the song _Masked BitcH_. You can see it by viewing YouTube clip -DTdJ3OP4CQ. In this story, she's missing the hoodie, the goggles, and whatever that green thing is that's covering her cleavage, and her boots have higher heels.

− "Mama-san" is the customary title in Japanese for a female bar manager.

− Did you catch the references to _Sex in the City _and_ From Here to Eternity? _The first reader to point either one out via PM or review gets a virtual cookie.

* * *

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	4. Rhapsody

_**DISCLAIMER: **_I don't own any of the Vocaloid characters appearing in this story. They're the intellectual property of the various software companies. This story constitutes "fair use" of these characters as provided for under applicable U.S. and international copyright laws.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Rhapsody**

With an earsplitting shriek, I catapulted from the nightmare into full consciousness, my body snapping bolt upright from the shock of the transition. At first, I could do nothing but sob, overwhelmed by the intensity of what I'd just experienced.

As with most dreams, the details faded rapidly the moment I awakened, but I was able to recall the gist of it: a fuzzy replay of the previous night's events. Yukari left my arms abruptly, and her departure had torn out my heart. My cries of despair had been the force that propelled me across the border between sleep and awakening.

I slumped back to the mattress, breathing deeply to get myself under control. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the panic and anguish to ebb away. After several long moments, I let out a shuddering sigh – the kind that always seems to slip out at the end of a good cry – as my composure began to return, and along with it my awareness of my surroundings.

Not only was my bedroom pitch-black, but the air was chilly enough to raise gooseflesh. My exposed nipples, which had hardened to the point of discomfort, forcefully reminded me that I was practically naked. Still a bit disoriented, I blinked into the void, wondering why I'd fallen asleep wearing only my skirt. After a moment, it hit me.

_Oh, yeah. Yukari and I were…God, it felt so good…but then I said…and then she…damn._

As the memory of Yukari's sudden departure blended with the residual effect of my dream, my throat began to tighten again.

_No. I will _not_ cry. That won't solve anything. Come on, Akasaka, get a grip._

After wiping my eyes, I fumbled blindly through the unidentified objects on my nightstand before finally finding my cell phone. The display read 04:53 – later than I thought, but still far earlier than I'd normally wake up on a work day.

Too exhausted to do anything about my nakedness for the time being, I pulled up the covers and rolled over, determined to squeeze out two more hours of sleep, hoping it would provide refuge instead of leading to another nightmare. But after tossing and turning for a further hour or so, I gave up the fight. Images of Yukari kept swirling around in my head, defeating any hope of further slumber.

Thinking that my weekday morning routine would help me get my mind off Yukari, at least for a while, I decided to head to the gym a little early, and then come home to practice my trumpet. But ten kilometers on a treadmill did little to banish Yukari's smiling face from my mind. Back home with my trumpet in my hands, things didn't get any better. I was so preoccupied that the session quickly devolved into a mistake-ridden horror show. It was almost as if I'd entirely forgotten how to play. How the hell was I going to earn my paycheck that night?

After putting my trumpet back in its case and setting my music stand aside, I gave up trying to distract myself, and began to pace back and forth through my living room, trying to sort out what had happened between Yukari and me. Statement by statement, I replayed in my mind what she had said.

_Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, I want to respond to your feelings?_

The more I mulled over that statement, along with the other things Yukari had said, the more confused I got. On the surface, it had sounded like she wanted me, but her actions hadn't matched her words. After a long while of trying to make sense of it all – without success – I decided that my emotions were still too raw to allow for deep, rational thinking.

What I really needed was a shoulder to cry on, as well as a healthy dose of sound advice. There was only one person I could rely on to give me both without judging me for needing either.

With a flip of my thumb, I scrolled through my phone's contact list until Lily's number showed on the display. But as I prepared to touch the call button, I had second thoughts. It was barely 08:00, which meant that Lily was probably still with Gumi. I definitely didn't want to disturb them, so I wound up sending Lily an email, trying to make it sound urgent without crossing the line to hysterical.

_Hey, sorry for leaving so early last night. Call as soon as you're free. Important._

I didn't expect a response for a couple hours, so I stashed the phone my jeans and wandered out to the kitchen, forcing myself to eat breakfast, even though I didn't have any appetite. Midway through my morning bowl of miso soup, Lily's ringtone – "Habanera," from the opera _Carmen_ – caught me by surprise.

"Yo, Ia!" She sounded even more chipper than she typically did the morning after a hot date. "How're they hangin'? Firm and high, as always?"

Her attempt to get a reaction fell flat, because I wasn't in the mood for the usual banter.

"Whatever."

"'Good morning, Lily, my bestest pal in the whole world,'" she countered, attempting to imitate my voice, and failing miserably. "'Are you doing well this morning?' Why yes, despite a mild hangover, I'm holding my own – thanks ever so much for asking. I can feel the love right through my phone."

"Oh, give it a rest. Anyway, you're up earlier than I expected."

"Yeah, Gumi-chan has stuff to do, so I'm getting ready to do my 'walk of shame' a little sooner than I thought. Although I wonder: is it right to call it a 'walk of shame' if the person you just spent the night with is going to be with you while you're doing it?"

"Wait, you and Masami-san are still together? Ugh. I didn't mean to intrude."

Lily's answer was a sultry purr.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. And hell yeah, we're together. After last night, there's no way she's going to get rid of me. I plan to follow her around all day, except for when I'm working." There was a brief pause, during which I heard Gumi talking in the background, although her words were unintelligible. "She says she's totally fine with that, by the way."

For a moment, the green monster of jealousy slithered through my consciousness. Lily's night with Gumi had obviously gone well. It didn't seem fair. Why couldn't that have been me? I should have been serving Yukari breakfast right then, not sitting there by myself, crying over how everything went wrong.

But I couldn't bring myself to feel any ill will. What had happened last night wasn't Lily's fault, after all. I tried to keep my tone light, and not let my disappointment show.

"So I take it things went well with Masami-san?"

This time, the pause was significantly longer, and when Lily finally broke the silence, she surprised me with the earnestness of her reply.

"They really did. I'm still kind of processing the whole thing, but…yeah, last night was awesome. Gumi-chan made sure I'll never forget it." Then, in an instant, the serious moment passed, and she reverted back to her typical teasing self. "But more about that later. You and Yuzuki-san sure didn't stick around very long at the club. The way you were all over each other, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. So was I right? Did you two spend the night playing pet-the-kitty?"

"Uh…sort of."

I could hear the frown in Lily's reply.

"'Sort of'? What the hell does that mean? There's no such thing as getting half-laid, Ia. Either Yuzuki-san nailed you or she didn't."

"'Sort of' means she left about fifteen minutes after we got to my place. Right after we…um…"

There was a moment of stunned silence, then, "Wait, she what? Why?"

"It's complicated." I fought hard against the lump rising in my throat. Even though I knew Lily would never condemn me for it, I would _not_ cry. At least, that's what I kept telling myself. "Things were going so well – oh, God, you have no idea – but then I said something I shouldn't have, and she…she got up and walked out."

Despite my best effort to hold them in, the tears returned. I didn't have a prayer of stopping them, or of stifling the hitches in my breath that accompanied them, which Lily, of course, picked up on right away.

"Whoa, that had to suck. Hey, are you okay?"

"No, I'm _not_ okay, dummy," I said between stifled sobs. "If I was, would I be calling you? Oh, God, Lily…"

"Stay right there. I'm coming over."

"No, you don't have to…" The protest was for show, and we both knew it. I'd reached out to Lily because I needed her to be there for me; she wasn't about to refuse me, even if it meant parting from Gumi earlier than she'd planned.

"We're at that hotel near the club, so I'm only a few blocks away. Give me a couple minutes to get myself together and make sure Gumi-chan knows what's up, and I'll be right there."

* * *

True to her word, Lily was knocking on my apartment door within minutes. The moment I saw her, I lost what was left of my self-control, and the poor woman had to spend more than half an hour comforting me as I clung to her, blubbering my way through the details of how – at least in my mind – I'd ruined everything with Yukari.

I'm sure that Lily found my display alarming – after all, I was Ice Queen Aria, the one who usually comforted _her_ – but to her credit, she didn't give any sign of being put off. In fact, for a long time, she didn't say anything at all; she simply held me and let me cry until I ran out of tears.

"Got any tea?" was all she asked when I'd finally managed to get myself together. When I nodded toward the kitchenette, she added, "Go wash your face while I pour us some."

When I returned to the living room, Lily was sitting at one end of the sofa, mug in hand. As I sat down next to her, she picked up an identical mug from the nearby end table and handed it to me. The steam rising from the surface of the tea, along with the warmth radiating through the porcelain, felt comforting in the chilled air of my under-heated dump of an apartment.

When I turned to thank Lily, it finally registered in my brain that she was still wearing that same revealing dress she'd worn to Club Naiad. From her smudgy make-up to the stray hairs protruding from her disheveled braid-halo, she bore the unmistakable signs of having left the love hotel in a hurry. With a pang of guilt, I realized it was because she'd dropped everything, including Gumi, to be with me.

"I really am the worst," I said by way of apology. "Some friend I am, troubling you like this. Do you want to take a shower? You can borrow my clothes to wear home. Better than wearing that dress on the Metro at this time of day. And how about breakfast?"

But Lily merely waved a dismissive hand.

"Nah, we'll worry about all that later. Right now, I care more about you. This is so completely not like you. The Ia I know would've been pissed off if someone had walked out on her like that. She wouldn't have been so…sad."

"There's no way I could be angry at her," I replied without hesitation. "I love her."

Lily's eyes widened, and she stared at me for a long moment before asking, "Do you? I mean, really? That's a pretty damned serious thing to say about a girl you've known for 24 hours."

"Geez, it's not like I don't know Yukari-san at all. I've been a fan of hers for years, and we've met before, remember? She's not exactly a random hook-up." My shoulders sagged as Yukari's face drifted through my consciousness yet again. "I've only said _aishiteru wa_ to one other girl in my entire life, and I was deadly serious about her. I wouldn't say those words to Yukari-san if I didn't mean them."

"Well, if that's the way you feel, then it's my duty as your friend to support you, right?" Lily smiled – a trifle too brightly, it seemed, although I didn't think much of it at the time – and slid her free arm around my waist, pulling me into a half-embrace. I leaned against her, sipping tea from my mug, and soaking up the comfort of best-friend skinship. "You and I never mess with each other's love lives, Ia. That's the rule, right?" I nodded, uncertain where she was going with this. "I've seen you get pretty low over women before, and I've been good about giving you space, but this time, I can't stand to watch you suffer. I _have_ to get involved – there's no other way. Otherwise, you'll whine about this forever, and make my life miserable."

I couldn't help but smile at the attempted joke.

"Thanks, Lily."

"For what? I'm your bestie. I'm _supposed_ to have your back. So don't get all fucking sentimental on me." With my head on her shoulder, I couldn't see that infuriating grin of hers, but I sensed it in her voice. "But I can't help you if I don't know what the hell's going on, so now that you're not a yammering bag of hormones anymore, you'd better take another stab at telling me what happened between you two. I didn't understand a word you said on the first pass. This time, go slowly, and breathe."

As I repeated the story of how Yukari had cut our encounter short, Lily listened carefully, but didn't interrupt. When I'd finished, she was silent for a moment, thinking.

"Yuzuki-san was right about one thing," she finally said. "She's definitely confused. But one thing's for sure: she's totally into you. Think about it. If she wasn't, would she have said things like 'I want to respond to your feelings' or 'I want to hold you'?"

"Makes sense, I guess. But why would she run? That's what I don't get."

Lily shrugged.

"Who knows? Scared, maybe? If I was in her place, the last thing I'd want is to fall for someone I already know I'll only have three days with. Two girls with broken hearts – that's the ultimate outcome. It's a shot in the dark, but I think when you confessed, Yuzuki-san wanted to accept, but she couldn't get past the fact that come Sunday, you'd both be hurt. She doesn't want that."

"I don't care about Sunday," I countered, with complete conviction and – if I'd only known it at the time – more than a little naiveté. "I'll deal with it when it comes. I'd rather be happy with her for a couple days than never be with her in the first place."

"Apparently, she's a lot less confident than you are. Didn't you say something about her wanting to be sure that being with you was worth the pain of losing you?"

"Yeah."

The arm around my waist tightened – a gesture of encouragement.

"Then you need to make Yuzuki-san realize that it _is_ worth it."

"Easy for you to say, but how am I supposed to do that?"

"That's a problem," Lily acknowledged.

"If I could just talk to her…" My voice trailed off into silence. For several seconds – perhaps a minute – Lily slurped what was left of her tea, her brow furrowed in thought. Then, suddenly, her face lit up, and her now-empty tea mug hit the end-table with a loud thud.

"I am just about to be brilliant," she declared, turning to me with a triumphant grin. "You said you tried to hug her, but she stopped you, right? Said it would only 'make things worse'? Well, I've got to wonder: what would've happened if you _had_ hugged her? I bet she wouldn't have resisted you."

"So?"

"So all you have to do is talk to her face to face, right? You lay a big wet one on her and she melts. The two of you go back to her hotel suite and fuck all night. Problem solved." With a wink, she tapped a forefinger to one of her temples. "Who says blondes are dumb? You're welcome, by the way."

I slapped a palm to my forehead in frustration.

"Oh, fine. I suppose I should walk up to her at dress rehearsal this afternoon and slip her my tongue in front of everybody. Brilliant…_not_."

"I didn't mean in front of everyone, doofus. I meant in private."

"Were you not listening to me? She doesn't even want to be in the same room as me! Geez. Use your head for something besides a decoration."

Lily stuck out her tongue at me before retorting, "O ye of little faith. We don't need her to agree to see you. We just need to get her someplace where she can't run away."

"And how are we going to manage that?"

Lily retrieved her phone from the end table and waved it at me.

"I have connections. Well, really just one, but she's the only one who can make it happen."

I didn't need to rack my brain to figure out whom she was talking about.

"Masami-san?"

"Yep. If she can't figure something out, nobody can. Let me call her and see if she's got any ideas."

* * *

"Are you sure this'll work?"

At first, it seemed as though Gumi hadn't heard my question, because there was no reply other than the echo of our footsteps off of the walls of the empty corridor. I had just about made up my mind to ask a second time when she finally answered me.

"Not really, no. We won't know until we get you through the door. The rest is between you and Yukarin. And honestly, I really can't predict how she'll react."

From Gumi's flat, clipped delivery, I could tell she was frustrated. She had every right to be, given how much time she'd wasted that morning trying to convince Yukari to see me. The pianist had fought Gumi at every turn; she was adamant about my not visiting her hotel room, and she'd also flatly rejected meeting me for lunch. Out of desperation, Gumi had come up with Plan C: adding a last-minute entry to Yukari's media schedule, with me playing the part of "Satou-san," a reporter for an obscure music magazine. To this day, I'm not sure how Gumi was able to do it, but she'd managed to pull it off without arousing her boss' suspicions. Now that dress rehearsal was over, we were headed to Yukari's dressing room for the supposed interview.

Lily's faith in Gumi's ability to solve tough problems was well-founded, I had to admit. But while I was grateful for Gumi's help, I was also painfully aware that I'd caused her a great deal of trouble.

"I'm really sorry for dragging you into this, Masami-san."

When I said this, Gumi suddenly came to a dead stop. Caught by surprise, I took another step or two before I realized she wasn't beside me, then doubled back to face her. Her emerald eyes bored into mine, glittering in a manner that, although not exactly hostile, wasn't particularly friendly, either.

"You didn't 'drag' me into anything," she said in an exasperated tone of voice that made me feel as though I was being taken to task by an irate older sister. "This is going to sound cold-blooded, but I'm not doing this for your sake, or even because Lily-chan asked me to. This is all about Yukarin. I'm well-paid to keep her focused and productive, and I take that responsibility quite seriously. That's the only reason I got involved in this drama at all." She paused to let out an irritated sigh. "Right now, she's really making me work for my salary. You heard her performance during dress rehearsal, right? What did you think of it?"

I shifted uncomfortably under the sudden interrogation. To put it bluntly, Yukari hadn't sounded like herself. Oh, she was flawless from a technical standpoint, but the passion she usually poured into the Rach 3 was noticeably absent. It had sounded as if she was playing on auto-pilot. But I wasn't about to say anything negative about Yukari, especially to Gumi, so I decided to evade the question.

"Um, well…I was kind of focused on my own playing."

Gumi let out a mirthless giggle.

"Oh, come on. Who do you think plays the other piano part when Yukarin preps these concerti? I'm every bit as familiar with the Rach 3 score as she is. The second trumpet hardly plays at all during the first two movements. You expect me to buy that you were reading manga on your cell or something? Besides, I was there, and I saw you hanging on every note. Now answer the question. I'm going somewhere with this."

I hung my head, acknowledging defeat.

"Okay, fine. She was awful, at least by her standards."

"Exactly," Gumi said, jabbing a finger at me for emphasis. "And that's a real problem, because she's being paid big money to provide the best possible product to the audience. As of right now, she's in no state of mind to deliver the goods. This is _not_ a good thing."

"I've really messed things up, haven't I?"

I must have looked absolutely pathetic when I said this, because a good deal of Gumi's ire seemed to vaporize.

"Sorry for being so bitchy about this. Sure, I find this whole sordid mess annoying, but please don't think I'm blaming you for it. We both know that you're the reason she's acting weird, but it's not like it's your fault or anything. You've been following your feelings, like any girl would. No, Yukarin brought all this on herself. I don't think she expected things to go as far as they did, and when she realized she was in this deep, it scared her." With a weary smile, she took a step toward me, and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. "If it makes you feel better, I'm rooting for you. I don't want to see Yukarin get hurt, but if it's going to happen, I want it to be because the two of you were together and had to say goodbye, not because she pushed you away. Does that make sense?"

"That's what I tried to tell her, and you see where it got me," I said.

"Ah, yes, but sometimes words aren't enough. You have to force the issue. The good news is that I agree with Lily-chan: all you need to do is get Yukarin alone, and she'll fold like a cheap suit. I can sense that you have that kind of effect on her." With a final pat to my upper arm, she pulled out her ever-present tablet, wincing when she looked at the screen. "We need to get moving. Her Majesty is already grumpy enough. The longer she waits, the worse it'll get."

* * *

As we approached Yukari's dressing room, I had a strong sense of déjà vu, having walked the same corridor to stand in front of the same door twice in the space of as many days. Even so, circumstances were entirely different the second time around.

On Thursday morning, you wouldn't have been able to convince me that by Friday afternoon, I'd have had sex with, confessed to, and been rejected by Yuzuki Yukari. I'd have laughed in your face. But I certainly wasn't laughing now. In fact, I was as nervous as I'd ever been, and that's saying a lot from a musician who's faced her share of tough audiences.

"Let me talk at the beginning, and just play along," Gumi whispered. "After I leave, it's up to you. Remember, don't let her run, and don't back down. Good luck."

With that, she knocked twice on the door, then – as she had the previous day – pushed through it without waiting for an answer.

Yukari sat at the make-up mirror, her bare feet casually propped up on the table, and her attention firmly on the cell phone in her hand. I took a moment to drink in the sight of her, from the black, spaghetti-strap top that clung to her obviously braless chest, to the ruffled, turquoise-colored skirt that rode up on her toned thighs. I'd thought the clothes looked good on her during my brief glimpses of her from across the stage, but up close, she was mesmerizing.

After clearing her throat to get Yukari's attention, Gumi announced, "Your 'interview' is here."

With an absent nod, Yukari switched off her smart phone display and, after a long, languorous stretch, pulled her feet off of the table and stood up.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Yuzuki Yukari. Please excuse my rudeness. I've been really tired lately, and-…"

The words died in her throat as it registered in her mind exactly who was standing in front of her. The violet eyebrows shot upward, and the lips I found so intoxicating formed a perfect O of surprise. For several seconds, we stood staring at each other, until the oppressive silence finally got to me.

"Hello,Yukari-san. I've missed you."

As if my voice had jarred her out of a daydream, Yukari blinked once, then twice. Then, in a sudden burst of movement, she whirled to face Gumi.

"Masami, why is _she_ here?" Yukari pointed a shaking finger in my direction. "I told you already that I didn't want to see her. And you tricked me, too! Why are you doing this?"

"Akasaka-san is here because I'm forcing you to chase your demons instead of running from them," Gumi replied, facing down her trembling employer with icy resolve. "The two of you have a few things to sort out, and you're not leaving this room until you do."

"You can't do this," Yukari spluttered. "How many times have I told you to stay out of my personal life? Whatever there is between Akasaka-san and me is none of your business!"

"When your personal life starts affecting your work, it becomes my business. Face it, Yukarin, you sucked hard today, and Akasaka-san's the reason. You can't run from this, and I can't make it go away. You're going to have to deal with it."

Yukari's mouth worked soundlessly, as if she was trying to come up with a reply, but in the end she said nothing.

"You can thank me later, preferably with a large bonus in U. S. dollars," Gumi added, smiling sweetly as she prepared to leave. "It's about 16:30 now. That gives you about an hour and a half before Akasaka-san's pre-concert call – more than enough time for the two of you to come to an understanding. Now get on with it. Oh, and Yukarin?"

"What?" was the bemused reply.

"I'm taking an hour of personal time. My cell phone will be off, so you're on your own until 18:00. Make sure you're dressed and ready to leave the hotel by then. Now if you'll excuse me, a certain violist is waiting." With a wink in my direction, she disappeared through the door, locking it behind her.

I turned back to Yukari to find her staring at me, wide-eyed with panic.

"Why, Ia-san? Why are you here? I already told you that we're only going to wind up getting hurt."

I took a deep breath to bolster my courage. This was no time to be indirect, to play coy, not when every minute counted.

"I'm here because this is where I belong. With you." I lay aside my trumpet case and took a small, slow step forward. Eyeing me with alarm, Yukari immediately backed away until she bumped into the make-up table, unable to retreat any further. Like a deer in the headlights, her eyes locked with mine; I could see the war raging in their violet depths.

"No. It won't work. It _can't_ work. If I get too close to you…I've been through this before, Ia-san. Falling for someone, then having to go back on tour…and then it all ends, and I wind up alone, just like always. Besides, we only have until Sunday, and then I'll have to leave you. What kind of future is that?"

"If we only have until Sunday, then let's be together until then." I took another step toward her. "Live for the moment. Love each other right now." Yet another step. "You and me, together. Even if it's only for two days, it's right. You know it is, Yukari-san."

"Leave now. Don't come any closer."

The command was completely at odds with the maelstrom of emotions swirling on her face. I could see that despite her words, desire was beginning burn away the doubt and uncertainty. With surging confidence, I took that final step, the one that brought me closer than arm's reach. We were so close that I could almost feel the heat radiating off of Yukari's flushed cheeks.

"Tell me that yesterday was all a mistake, then," I said. "Tell me that my kisses didn't melt you. That you never wanted me as badly as I want you right now. If you can make me believe all that, I'll go."

She swallowed hard, and abruptly turned her back to me, folding her arms in a reflexive act of self-protection.

"You know I can't say any of that." Her voice had sunk to a hoarse near-whisper. "There's just no way."

Sensing I'd won, I slipped my arms around her waist. She went rigid in my arms, but she didn't fight me, so I molded myself to her back and inhaled deeply, savoring her floral, musky scent.

"Yes, we only have until Sunday, and yes, my heart's going to shatter when you leave, but I don't care," I whispered into her ear. "I still want to be yours. Please, Yukari-san, let me love you."

Ever so gently, I kissed the side of her neck. At the touch of my lips, the tension drained from her body, and she leaned back into my embrace with a sigh.

"You're a dirty fighter, you know that? Your touch…your kiss…they do things to me. Awesome things. My brain stops working, and my body says, 'That's it – that's what you want, Yukari. That's what you _need_.' God, you make me crazy."

"Trust me, it works both ways," I murmured.

After a short, comfortable silence, I felt her gently caress my hands.

"Let me go for a bit. I need to look at you."

Reluctantly, I released her, and she turned to face me. To my surprise, her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"I'm really sorry about last night. It's just that those words you said dredge up a lot of complicated feelings, and I just sort of…reacted. As soon as I left, I knew I'd made a mistake, but even though it hurt so badly, I talked myself into believing that I was doing the right thing. But now that you're here with me…I can't lie to myself anymore, Ia-san." She began to wipe at her eyes, which had begun to leak from the corners. "My head still says that being with you makes no sense. But deep inside…" She patted a hand over her left breast. "…my heart's telling me something different. It wants me to go for it. To say 'yes.' To let you love me the way you want to. To put up with the pain, because you're worth it. And you know what? I think I need to listen to my heart for a change, and worry about Sunday when it comes. If you'll still have me, that is."

Rather than answer, I simply reached for her, and this time she melted into my embrace without any trace of resistance. She felt right in my arms, as if her body had been specially designed to fit against mine. We clung to each other for a long moment, before she pulled back to look me in the eyes again.

"What you said to me last night…I'm not at the point where I can use those same words. Who knows? I may never be." She wiped the last traces of dampness from her cheeks, and smiled a radiant smile that burned right through the heavy atmosphere and straight into my heart. "But I'm not opposed to you trying to change my mind."

"Challenge accepted," I said as her lips eagerly sought mine.

That kiss, our first as lovers, was different from any other I'd shared with Yukari. Her answer to my confession opened a door somewhere deep inside me, releasing an extra measure of passion I never knew existed. It blew through me like a cyclone, cleansing my mind of every thought that didn't have to do with the woman in my arms, and twisting my insides into a throbbing Gordian knot of arousal.

How it happened I can't remember, but I wound up on my back on the shabby dressing-room sofa with Yukari on top of me, our hands grinding against each other's breasts as we devoured each other's lips. Yukari's fingers were far from gentle; they dug into my sensitive flesh, sending explosions of pleasure-pain rocketing straight to my core. Although my mind was nearly blank, I returned the favor as best I could, palming Yukari's small, firm mounds through her top, mercilessly tweaking their swollen peaks until she began to groan into my mouth.

Too soon, she pulled out of the kiss, and we gazed into each other's eyes, panting for breath as our hands continued their onslaught.

"I can't believe I went a whole night without your kisses," she sighed. "I wasted half a day being stupid – hours I could have spent worshipping your beautiful body. Oh, God, I can't wait another second. I want to touch you, and I want your mouth on me."

After pushing herself up into a kneeling position, she began fumbling with my shirt buttons. My brain was too foggy with lust to stop her, even if I wanted to. Nor did I even have the presence of mind to help her. I simply lay there, watching her work, and counting the seconds until those long, strong fingers would find their way inside me.

She'd barely gotten my blouse open to my aching breasts when a loud knock froze us both in place.

"Yukarin?" Gumi's voice. "Hello? Sorry for interrupting, but it's urgent."

I won't repeat the phrase that Yukari muttered right then. Suffice it to say that even sailor-mouthed Lily would have been impressed by the name she called Gumi under her breath. Still, I could understand her reaction, because I was every bit as frustrated as she was. To Yukari's credit, though, she recovered quickly enough to bark a substantially less profane response toward the locked door.

"Keep your shirt on! Geez!"

In a flash, we were off the sofa and in front of the mirror. While Yukari tried desperately to repair the smears in her lipstick and eyeliner, I frantically worked on my shirt buttons, cursing their sudden lack of cooperation with my shaking fingers.

Apparently, we weren't moving fast enough for Gumi, because after too many seconds had passed, there was a second knock, followed by the sound of the door unlocking.

"Oi, Yukarin! I'm coming in."

Yukari glowered at Gumi as she entered the dressing room.

"Your timing totally sucks ass, you know that? A-S-S _ass_. You'd better have a damned good reason for barging in like this."

Ignoring Yukari's peevish outburst, Gumi caught my eye and raised a questioning eyebrow. When I nodded and smiled, her shoulders sagged with relief. Then, it was back to business.

"Look, I already said I was sorry, okay? But we've got a bit of a situation. I just got a phone call from the NSO Executive Director. It seems that he got wind of your less-than-stellar display at dress rehearsal, and he's a bit, um, concerned, shall we say, about the orchestra's investment in your appearance fee. They're going to take a bath if they have to cancel, and he'd like to avoid that, if possible."

"Hey, I wasn't _that_ bad," Yukari protested. "And why would they cancel? What the hell are people telling him? That I'm dying or something?"

"God only knows. You know how rumors get. Anyway, he's on his way down here right now. The Maestro and I tried to talk him out of it, but it didn't work. He wants to see for himself that you're okay."

Yukari sighed deeply.

"All right, I'll just tell him it's a 'female problem,' and that I'll be okay if I rest for a bit. It's not a _complete_ lie, because a female _was_ the source of my problems…" She nodded toward me. "…but that's all behind us now."

"It's worth a shot," Gumi decided. "We need to get Akasaka-san out of here, though. It'll only raise questions if he finds her with us, especially with her shirt buttoned wrong."

I followed Gumi's gaze down to my chest and saw that she was right – I'd missed a buttonhole. With a mumbled curse, I fixed it. Meanwhile, Gumi retrieved my trumpet case and handed to me.

"Here. Lily-chan says if you take the back way, just keep turning right and you'll wind up at the employee lounge. She's waiting there for you. Now get going."

"Wait!" Startled, Gumi and I turned to face Yukari, whose face had scrunched into that adorable pout, the one that made me want to smother her with kisses. "Gumi-chan, you're such a cold-hearted jerk. Don't I at least get to say goodbye to her?"

"He's going to be here any minute, Yukarin," Gumi said, but she only stood her ground for a moment before relenting. I had a suspicion that I wasn't the only one who couldn't resist Yukari's pout. "Fine, but you'll have to do it with me in the room, just in case we get walked in on. I'll turn my back. Make it quick."

As soon as Gumi looked away, Yukari surprised me by practically throwing herself at me. After wrapping her arms around my neck, she planted a firm kiss on my mouth. Her voice sank to a seductive whisper.

"We just can't seem to get a break, can we? But I promise to make it up to you tonight. Better plan on a sleep-over in my hotel room. Not that we'll be sleeping much…"

As her words trailed off into a mischievous smirk, I shivered at the wonderful implications of that statement.

"Break a leg tonight." Given that my mind was filled with images of Yukari and me, naked and horizontal, I couldn't come up with anything more profound to say.

Her face lit up in another one of those smiles that turned me boneless.

"You, too. I'll be in the Director's Box after intermission, so make me proud, okay? And listen carefully during the Rach 3 – it's going to be a special performance. Now that I have my special person in the audience, I've got a hunch that I'm going to play it even more awesomely than usual."

The sound of Gumi clearing her throat ended our moment, but not before Yukari gently stroked my cheek, and planted one final kiss on the tip of my nose.

"You'd better go. Don't worry – I'll be waiting for you after the concert."

I didn't want to leave her arms, but Gumi was already holding the door open for me, so I had no choice.

"I'm off," I said, and fled the dressing room without looking back.

My exit came not a moment too soon, because the booming voice of the Executive Director echoed through the corridor to my left. I bolted in the opposite direction, following Lily's instructions to keep bearing right.

As I worked my way through the bowels of the Pavilion, it began to sink in that Yukari and I were formally together. The joy that welled up inside me made me want to cry out, but I didn't want to attract attention, so I settled for a fist-pump instead.

In my moment of triumph, I conveniently ignored the fact that in a little more than 48 hours, it would all end, like I was waking from a dream. All I cared about was that I was Yukari's, and she was mine. As far as I was concerned, Sunday would have to take care of itself.

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**A/N:**

− As usual, my humble gratitude goes to my beta-reading team, Musician74 and Gray Voice, for their valuable assistance during the writing of this chapter.

− Check out my YouTube channel for a playlist of songs referred to in this chapter. Click the link on my profile page, then filter on "Playlists."

− "Habanera" is one of the best-known arias from 19th-Century French opera. I chose it as Ia's ringtone for Lily because it's sensual and free-spirited, just like Lily herself. Watch Julia Migenes-Johnson camp it up in the YT clip in this chapter's YouTube playlist, and see if you agree.

− There are a number of different ways to say "I love you" in Japanese. Since Japanese people are notoriously indirect about their true feelings, the most common way to express deep affection to a significant other is to use the phrase _dai suki desu_ ("I really like you a lot"). But Ia uses a variant of the far stronger and much more direct _watashi wa kimi wo aishiteru_ ("I love you"). This is such an intense phrase in spoken Japanese that it is only rarely used, even between close family members, and even then usually only in private. Ia's use of it is as powerful a statement of her feelings as she could possibly make.

− "Satou" is the most common surname in Japan, on a par with "Smith" in North America.

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